Newcastle Airport

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

IATA: NCL – ICAO: EGNT
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Local Authorities, Copenhagen Airports A/S
Operator Copenhagen Airports A/S
Serves Newcastle upon Tyne, Cumbria, North East England
Location Woolsington
Elevation AMSL 266 ft / 81 m
Coordinates 55°02′15″N 001°41′30″W / 55.0375, -1.69167
Website www.newcastleairport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
07/25 7,641 2,329 Asphalt

Newcastle Airport (IATA: NCL, ICAO: EGNT) is located in Newcastle upon Tyne, about 6 miles (11 km) north-west of the city centre. In 2006 it was the tenth busiest airport in the United Kingdom.

Though in Newcastle, the airport itself is actually 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.

Newcastle Airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence (Number P725) that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction. It was also voted the North's favourite airport in a survey by Wanderlust.

Contents

[edit] 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 then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and the first low-cost airline arrived at the airport, with Go inaugurating a service to London Stansted following the collapse of locally based Gill Airways. 2001 saw the acquisition of a 49% stake in the Airport by Copenhagen Airports.

In August 2004 an extended and refurbished Departure Terminal was opened. The refurbishment comprised 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, however the airline cancelled these plans citing high fuel prices as the reason.

Newcastle was the first regional airport in the UK to install common-use self-service kiosks in the terminal, allowing passengers to check-in themselves without the need to queue at a conventional desk[citation needed]. In 2006 a record 5.4 million passengers used the Airport, according to Civil Aviation Authority figures. Passenger figures are expected to approach seven million by 2009[citation needed].

Rapid expansion in passenger traffic has led to increasing commercial utilisation of the south-side of the airport, which was previously used for general aviation, and 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. The Newcastle Aviation Academy is also located within this area.

[edit] 2007 onwards

Emirates was the first airline to offer scheduled long-haul flights from Newcastle. On 1 September 2007 the airline began daily direct services to Dubai using their A330 aircraft, with connections to other international destinations available from the airline's Dubai hub. This has provided an alternative for passengers to other European transfer points such as London Heathrow.

The construction of a new 187-bedroom, 4-star Ramada hotel began in June 2007, with completion due in winter 2008. A new filling station has recently opened.

[edit] Statistics

The airport has seen significant growth over the last ten years, handling 5.43 million passengers in 2006, more than double the number handled ten years ago.

Number of passengers[1] Number of movements[2] Freight
(tonnes)[1]		 Mail
(tonnes)[1]
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
2007 5,623,765 58,395 785 8,483
Source: United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority [1]

[edit] Future plans

The Airport recently published a Master Plan that sets 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 (currently under construction) 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 October 2007 a new Air Traffic Control Tower was completed at a cost of £8.2 million, situated on the north side of the airfield.[3] The now christened ' Emirates Tower ' was designed by REID architects, and bears resemblance to the 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, it is expected to be made permanent[citation needed].

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. The airport hopes to expand annual passenger capacity to 10 million (double current capacity) by 2016 and to 15 million by 2030[citation needed].

It is expected that £70million will be invested in the airport during the current Master Plan period, which runs from 2006 to 2016. The airport also recently finished extending its remote parking for aircraft, resulting in an extra 5 parking stands that can accommodate 5 large aircraft (Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 size), or 4 large aircraft plus 2 smaller aircraft (such as the BAe Jetstream 41).

[edit] Surface access

[edit] Light rail

Main article: Airport Metro station

Airport station on the Tyne and Wear Metro is directly connected to the terminal through an indoor walkway. The station is the northern terminus of the green line with frequent, direct services to Newcastle upon Tyne (22 mins) and Sunderland (55 mins) city centres.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Ancillary services

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

There are two hotels on the Airport site, the Britannia Airport Hotel and a Premier Inn, with a third 190 bedroom Ramada hotel currently under construction. There is also a Premier Inn located at Callerton, near the general aviation terminal.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Scheduled flights

[edit] Charter flights

  • Air Bee (Naples)
  • Air Malta (Malta, Sardinia)
  • BH Air (Bourgas, Varna)
  • bmi (Kefalonia, Venice)
  • Eurocypria Airlines (Larnaca)
  • Freebird Airlines (Dalaman)
  • Monarch Airlines (Cancún, Orlando-Sanford, Puerto Plata)
  • Onur Air (Antalya, Bodrum, Dalaman)
  • SunExpress (Bodrum)
  • Thomas Cook Airlines (Alicante, Antalya, Arrecife, Bodrum, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Heraklion, Ibiza, Kos, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mahon, Málaga, Monastir, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Reus, Rhodes, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos)
  • Thomsonfly (Alicante, Antalya, Arrecife, Bodrum, Bourgas, Cancún, Corfu, Dalaman, Faro, Girona, Heraklion, Ibiza, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Mahon, Málaga, Monastir, Naples, Orlando-Sanford, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Punta Cana, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South, Thessaloniki, Verona, Zakynthos)
  • Viking Airlines (Heraklion)
  • XL Airways (Arrecife, Corfu, Dalaman, Funchal, Heraklion, Kefalonia, Larnaca, Malta, Paphos, Rhodes, Sharm el-Sheikh, Skiathos, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos)

[edit] Cargo and mail flights

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c Passenger, freight and mail volumes include both domestic and international, arriving and departing counterparts.
  2. ^ Number of movements represents total takeoffs and landings during that year.
  3. ^ Newcastle International Airport (2006-05-23). "Work on new £8.2m Air Traffic Control Tower takes-off.". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-02-12. “Work has started today on Newcastle International Airport’s multi-million pound construction to build a new state-of-the-art air traffic control tower.”

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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