Newcastle International Airport

This article is about the airport in England, for other airports with this name, see Newcastle Airport (disambiguation).

Template:Airport frame Template:Airport title File:Newcastle International Airport Logo.gif Template:Airport image Template:Airport infobox Template:Runway title Template:Runway Template:Airport end frame Newcastle Airport (IATA: NCL, ICAO: EGNT) is the ninth largest airport in the United Kingdom. It is located about 6 miles (11 km) north of Newcastle city centre.

Newcastle Airport is owned by seven local authorities (51%) and Copenhagen Airport (49%). The seven local authorities are: Durham County Council, Gateshead MBC, City of Newcastle, North Tyneside MBC, Northumberland County Council, South Tyneside MBC and City of Sunderland.

The airport has seen tremendous growth in recent years. The CAA recently named Newcastle as the fastest growing regional airport in the UK. The Airport handled 5.19 million passengers in 2005. It was also voted the North's favourite airport in a survey by Wanderlust.

Newcastle International Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P725) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction.

History

The Airport was opened on 26 July 1935 by the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Phillip Cunliffe-Lister. Incorporating a clubhouse, hangar, workshops, fuel garage and grass runway, at the time it cost £35,000 to build.

Although during World War II the main airport in the region was located at Cramlington in Northumberland, following the war a decision was taken to concentrate development on the present airport site. Accordingly, in the early 1950s, ex-RAF fighter pilot Jim Denyer was appointed as Airport Manager and within a few years over 5,000 people were using the Airport each year to travel to destinations such as Jersey and the Isle of Wight.

The 1960s saw tremendous growth in passenger numbers at the Airport. This was mainly due to British people taking foreign holidays to places such as Spain instead of holidaying within the UK. A new runway was built, along with an apron and a new air traffic control tower. These new additions were opened by the then-Prime Minister, Harold Wilson.

In the 1970s, with passenger figures approaching one million per year, the Airport status was changed to Category B, making it a regional international airport. The 1980s saw further investment in check-in, catering and duty-free shops. In 2000 a new £27 million extension was opened by Prime Minister Tony Blair and the first low-cost airline arrived at the airport, with Go Fly inaugurating a service to London Stansted following the withdrawal from the route by the now defunct Gill Airways. 2001 saw the acquisition of a 49% stake in the Airport by Copenhagen Airports.

In August 2004 Newcastle saw the opening of the extended and refurbished Departure Terminal. The refurbishment saw a 3,000 square metre extension which included new shops, cafes and 1,200 new waiting seats.

In July 2005 it was announced that American Airlines were to start a new direct service to New York JFK Airport. Due to high fuel prices American Airlines cancelled these plans.

In January 2007, it was announced that Emirates Airlines were to start a new daily service Dubai International Airport from September 1 2007. As of 16th January, a new airbridge has been fitted to the first floor of the piers eastern end in preparation for the new service. This brings the total number of airbridges to three, the others being used mostly by British Airways and Thomsonfly.

Airlines and destinations

Scheduled flights

• Aer Arann (Galway)
• Aer Lingus (Dublin)
• Air France (Paris Charles-De Gaulle)
• Air Malta (Malta)
• British Airways (London-Gatwick [ends March 2007], London-Heathrow)
• Brussels Airlines (Brussels)
• Cimber Air (Copenhagen [starts March 25])
• Eastern Airways (Aberdeen, Birmingham, Cardiff, Isle of Man, London-City, Southampton, Stornaway, Wick)
• easyJet (Alicante, Barcelona, Belfast-International, Bristol, Faro, Geneva, Kraków [starts March 30, 2007], London-Stansted, Málaga, Menorca [starts July 14, 2007], Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Rome-Ciampino)
• Emirates (Dubai) [Starts September 1, 2007]
• Flybe (Belfast-City, Exeter, Jersey, Limoges [starts May 2007], Southampton)
• Flyglobespan (Toronto-Hamilton [starts May 2007])
• TUIfly (Hanover)
• Jet2.com (Almeria, Amsterdam, Bergen, Chambery, Cork, Kraków, London-Gatwick [starts March 2007], Malaga, Menorca, Murcia, Palma, Pisa, Tenerife-South, Valencia)
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)
• Lufthansa (Dusseldorf)
• Ryanair (Dublin, Girona [starts March 2007], Milan-Bergamo, Oslo-Torp [Ends March 24, 2007])
• Thomas Cook Airlines (Toronto-Pearson [starts May 2007])
• Thomsonfly (Alicante, Ibiza, Málaga, Palma, Tenerife-South)(Scheduled)
• Widerøe (Bergen, Stavanger)

Charter flights

Newcastle is a hub for Thomas Cook Airlines. Destinations in Europe, the Middle East and North America are served from Newcastle Airport by charter airlines. Operators with based aircraft include Thomsonfly, Excel Airways, Flyjet, MyTravel Airways and Thomas Cook Airlines. Non-based operators include BH Air, bmi, BritishJET, Eurocypria Airlines, First Choice Airways, Futura, LTE, Monarch Airlines. Flyjet based a 757 at Newcastle Airport.

Surface access

Light rail

Main article: Airport Metro station

The Airport is connected to the Tyne and Wear Metro service linking it directly with both Newcastle (22 mins) and Sunderland (55 mins) city centres.

Road transport

The Airport is connected to the A1 trunk road by the A696 dual carriageway. A regular bus service (101) also runs from the airport to Newcastle (Kingston Park) and South East Northumberland. A half-hourly service (X77 / X78 / X79) links the Airport the nearby villages of Ponteland and Darras Hall, as well as Newcastle City Centre.

Ancillary services

The main handling agents at the Airport are Swissport UK (previously Groundstar) and Penauille Servisair.

There are two hotels on the Airport site, the Britannia Airport Hotel and a Premier Travel Inn, with an additional Premier Travel Inn located at Callerton, near the general aviation terminal. There are also a large number of hotels in Newcastle and the surrounding area.

Statistics

	Number of Passengers	Number of Movements	Freight (tonnes)	Mail (tonnes)
1997	2,592,000	81,279	1,219	3,489
1998	2,920,000	81,299	678	3,631
1999	2,934,000	79,291	776	3,409
2000	3,147,000	82,940	526	3,720
2001	3,376,358	82,524	783	2,859
2002	3,387,222	79,173	1,438	2,368
2003	3,903,340	75,113	924	2,576
2004	4,707,818	77,721	799	7,756
2005	5,187,182	55,494	199	7,820
2006	5,431,976	58,940	306	7,884
Source: United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority [1]

Number of Movements represents total takeoffs and landings during that year. Number of Passengers, Freight and Mail include both domestic and international counterparts.

Future plans

The Airport recently published a Master Plan that set out development proposals for the airport until 2016. In the near term, these include building a multi-storey car park to replace the current short-stay parking, a new 187-bedroom on-site hotel and the expansion of the freight facilities on the south side of the airport. Feasibility studies are being carried out to evaluate the longer-term proposals that include:

• extending the runway at its eastmost end,
• converting the junction with the A696 into a grade-separated junction to cater for the expected increase in traffic levels, and,
• the building of a heavy rail link to connect the airport with the National Rail network.

In November 2005 the Airport announced to build a new Air Traffic Control Tower on the north side of the site, replacing the existing structure which was completed in 1966. The work commenced in May 2006 and the building is expected to be in use by December 2007 at a cost of £8.2 million. The tower was designed by REID architects, and bears resemblance to the splendid control tower they designed for Edinburgh Airport. In the process the Newcastle VHF omnidirectional range beacon has been taken out of service, since the new tower would have interfered with its operation. Although the withdrawal is temporary at the moment, it is expected to be made permanent.

Plans were recently announced for a new office development south of the main airport runway. The 3 story scheme should create around 170 new jobs. With the revealed plans came the news that the airport is hoped to expand to 10 million (double current capacity) by 2016 and 15 million by 2030. This will likely warrant a new terminal around 2018-2020. It is expected that £70million will be invested in the airport in the next ten years.

References

• United Kingdom AIP

External links

• Official Newcastle Airport site
• "Newcastle International Airport extension opened" (Press release). Copenhagen Airports. 2004-08-13. Retrieved 2007-02-12. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)