Newcastle International Airport

The airport is owned by seven local authorities (51%) and AMP Capital (49%). The seven local authorities are: City of Newcastle, City of Sunderland, Durham County Council, Gateshead MBC, North Tyneside MBC, Northumberland County Council, and South Tyneside MBC. In October 2012 Copenhagen Airport sold its stake in the airport to AMP Capital.[3]

The airport mainly serves the City of Newcastle, the greater Tyneside area, Northumberland and Wearside. The airport competes with the smaller Teesside International Airport for passengers travelling from and to County Durham and Teesside. Passengers from Cumbria, North Yorkshire, and southern Scotland also use the airport; the nearest similar-sized airports are Leeds Bradford Airport to the south and the larger Edinburgh and Glasgow airports to the north. In terms of passenger numbers, Newcastle is the second largest airport in the North of England, after Manchester Airport.

Newcastle Airport in 1972

The airport was opened on 26 July 1935 as Woolsington Aerodrome by the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Phillip Cunliffe-Lister. Incorporating a clubhouse, hangar, workshops, fuel garage and grass runway, it cost £35,000 to build.[4]

In the 1960s, a new runway was built, along with an apron and a new air traffic control tower. These new additions were opened by the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson on 17 February 1967.[5]

In the 1970s, with passenger figures approaching one million per year, the airport's status was changed to Category B, making it a regional international airport; in the same decade it was re-branded as Newcastle Airport. The 1980s saw further investment in check-in, catering and duty-free shops. In 1991, Airport Metro station opened, connecting the airport with Newcastle city centre using the Tyne and Wear Metro system.

Since the 2000s

Main hall

In August 2004, an extended and refurbished Departure Terminal was opened. The refurbishment included a 3,000 square metre extension with new shops, cafes and 1,200 new seats for waiting passengers.[6]

In 2006, a record 5.4 million passengers used the airport, according to Civil Aviation Authority figures.[7]

Rapid expansion in passenger traffic has led to increasing commercial use of the south side of the airport. This was previously used for general aviation, but is now used for freight, mail and corporate flights. This is partially due to difficulties obtaining departure and arrival slots for light aircraft traffic, which need to be separated from larger aircraft to protect against wake turbulence. As part of the Airport Master Plan, the south-side area is to be expanded with maintenance facilities including new hangar and apron areas.[8]

In January 2007 it was announced that Emirates were to begin a daily non-stop service to Dubai from the airport. This service started on 7 September 2007 and has operated ever since.[9] Until 2012, the route was flown by an Airbus A330. Since September 2012 it has been flown by a Boeing 777.

In August 2016, United Airlines announced it would discontinue its seasonal route from Newark to Newcastle in 2017, citing economic reasons.[10] Thus Newcastle Airport lost one of its two long-haul services. The other long-haul route is currently flown by Emirates to Dubai.

In July 2017, it was announced that the airport would be investing £3 million on a terminal expansion project which is part of overall £20 million improvement plans running from 2016 to 2017.[11] This £20m improvement plan included a new radar system alongside digital signage in the check-in areas and the installation of new flooring.

The £3m plan includes an extension to the terminal by 4,800 sq ft (450 m²) and will increase the equipment in the security hall, bringing in improved technology to speed up procedures there. This was due to be constructed over the winter of 2017/2018.[12]

Newcastle Airport Freight Village is south of the airport and includes Emirates SkyCargo, FedEx, and North East Air Cargo company offices which deal with freight exports and imports and mail. It also houses freight forwarding agents such as Casper Logistics Ltd, Kintetsu World Express, Kuehne + Nagel, Nippon Express, Schenker International, Davis Turner Air Cargo, and Universal Forwarding.[13]

In April 2016, Emirates reported that flown exports have soared to £310m a year since the arrival of the Emirates service from Newcastle to Dubai.[14] The Dubai route contributes some £600m to the economy and has opened unlimited export avenues to North East firms, some of whom have opened offices in the United Arab Emirates.[14]

All cargo operations are based on the southern apron.

The airport is also home to the Newcastle Airport Fire Academy.[15][16] The Newcastle Aviation Academy is also located within this area. When Gill Airways operated, its head office was in the New Aviation House, on the airport property.[17]

The south side of the airport also has bases for Great North Air Ambulance[18] and NPAS Newcastle Helicopter.[19] They normally have one respective helicopter based here at a time but are known to rotate their fleet around bases. The area also holds maintenance workshops for the airport and various other depots for airport-run services like Alpha Catering.[20]

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter services to and from Newcastle[21]. Flights will be gradually restarting from June 2020 adhering to the Government’s guidelines on containing Coronavirus. This means that passengers should check on the airline’s website on whether their flight is scheduled to fly as normal.

• 30 November 2000 - A Piper Aerostar registered N64719 en route to Iceland crashed close to Fearnoch, on the north side of Loch Tay in Perthshire, killing the single crewmember. The aircraft had departed from Newcastle Airport. The accident report concluded that the aircraft gradually lost airspeed during an icing encounter, before stalling and the pilot losing control.[26]

The airport saw significant growth in the ten years to 2007, when passenger numbers peaked at 5.65 million, more than double the number handled ten years earlier. Passenger numbers declined in the subsequent four years due to the financial crisis of 2007–2010, but later recovered, with around 5.3 million passengers passing through the airport in 2018 (close to the 2006 total), although cargo volumes have broadly increased to record levels since 2005.

Traffic figures

Newcastle Airport's control tower

Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 at Newcastle Airport

Newcastle Airport passenger totals 1997-2018 (millions)

Updated: 25 January 2019.[27]

	Number of passengers [nb 1]	Number of movements [nb 2]	Freight (tonnes)[2]	Mail (tonnes)[2]
1997	2,642,591	81,279	1,219	3,489
1998	2,984,724	81,299	678	3,631
1999	2,994,051	79,291	776	3,409
2000	3,208,734	82,940	526	3,720
2001	3,431,393	82,524	783	2,859
2002	3,426,952	79,173	1,438	2,368
2003	3,920,204	75,113	924	2,576
2004	4,724,263	77,721	799	7,756
2005	5,200,806	77,882	199	7,820
2006	5,431,976	81,655	306	7,884
2007	5,650,716	79,200	785	8,483
2008	5,039,993	72,904	1,938	10,901
2009	4,587,883	69,254	2,597	9,758
2010	4,356,130	66,677	3,650	9,062
2011	4,346,270	64,521	3,059	8,532
2012	4,366,196	61,006	2,956	7,929
2013	4,420,839	59,962	3,701	6,512
2014	4,516,739	59,114	4,450	4,738
2015	4,562,853	55,950	3,717	4,633
2016	4,807,906	56,263	4,574	4,894
2017	5,300,274	57,808	5,482	1,128
2018	5,332,238	53,740	5,524	3
2019	5,199,000	50,688	4,745	3

1. Passenger, freight and mail volumes include both domestic and international, transit, arriving and departing counterparts.
2. Number of movements represents total aircraft takeoffs and landings during the year.

Busiest routes

Busiest routes to and from Newcastle International Airport, UK (2019)[28]

Rank	Airport	Total passengers	Change 2018/19
1	London–Heathrow	461,804
2	Alicante	375,876
3	Amsterdam	362,351
4	Palma de Mallorca	320,387
5	Belfast–International	269,402
6	Málaga	263,447
7	Dubai–International	227,629
8	Tenerife–South	226,116
9	Dublin	221,458
10	Bristol	191,235
11	Faro	183,536
12	Paris–Charles de Gaulle	165,599
13	Lanzarote	143,750
14	Dalaman	121,233
15	Southampton	112,956
16	Ibiza	86,872
17	Antalya	78,426
18	Barcelona	73,992
19	Corfu	58,908
20	Geneva	56,352

Media related to Newcastle International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website