Newcastle Airport
IATA: NCL – ICAO: EGNT
Summary
Airport type		Public
Owner		Newcastle Airport Local Authority Holding Company Ltd (51%), AMP Capital (49%).
Operator		Newcastle International Airport Ltd
Serves		Newcastle upon Tyne Tyne and Wear Cumbria Northumberland
Location		Woolsington, Newcastle upon Tyne
Elevation AMSL		266 ft / 81 m
Coordinates		55°02′15″N 001°41′30″W / 55.03750°N 1.69167°W / 55.03750; -1.69167Coordinates: 55°02′15″N 001°41′30″W / 55.03750°N 1.69167°W / 55.03750; -1.69167
Website		www.newcastleairport.com
Map
EGNT Location in Tyne and Wear
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
07/25	2,329	7,641	Asphalt
Statistics (2012)
Passengers			4,366,196
Passenger change 11-12			0.5%
Aircraft Movements			61,006
Movements change 11-12			5.4%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1] Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority[2]

Newcastle International Airport (IATA: NCL, ICAO: EGNT) is located in Woolsington, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, 5 NM (9.3 km; 5.8 mi)^[1] north-west of the city centre. In 2012 it was the 11th busiest airport in the United Kingdom.^[2]

The airport is owned by seven local authorities (51%) and AMP Capital (49%). The seven local authorities are: City of Newcastle, Durham County Council, Gateshead MBC, North Tyneside MBC, Northumberland County Council, South Tyneside MBC and City of Sunderland. On 27 October 2012 Copenhagen Airport sold the stake in the airport to AMP Capital which is an Australian based Investment Management Company.

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

History[edit]

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, 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, in the same decade it was re-branded as Newcastle Airport. The 80's 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. A new £27 million extension was opened in 2000 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.

Airport logo used until 2000

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.^[3]

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 were expected to approach seven million by 2009^{[citation needed]}, although due to the financial crisis of 2007–2010 and subsequent recession, the actual figure fell short of that number by around 2.5 million.

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.

Plans[edit]

The Airport recently^[when?] published a Master Plan that sets out development proposals for the airport until 2016.^{[citation needed]} 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 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.^[4] 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 was permanently withdrawn from service, since the new tower would have interfered with its operation.

It is expected that £70 million will be invested in the airport during the current Master Plan period, which runs from 2006 to 2016.^{[citation needed]} The airport also recently finished extending its remote parking for aircraft, resulting in an extra 5 parking stands that can accommodate 5 medium-sized aircraft (Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 size), or 4 large aircraft (Boeing 767 or Airbus A330 size) plus 2 smaller aircraft (such as the BAe Jetstream 41).^{[citation needed]}

Area served[edit]

The airport mainly serves the City of Newcastle, the greater Tyneside area, Northumberland and Wearside. The airport competes with the smaller Durham Tees Valley 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 airport being Leeds Bradford Airport to the south and the larger Edinburgh and Glasgow International airports to the north. In terms of passenger numbers, Newcastle is the third largest airport in the North of England, after Manchester Airport and Liverpool Airport.

Airlines and destinations[edit]

Passenger[edit]

Cargo[edit]

Other facilities[edit]

When Gill Airways existed, its head office was in the New Aviation House, on the airport property.^[7]

Also, the Newcastle Airport Freight Village which is located beside the Airport, bases Emirates SkyCargo, FedEx, Servisair Cargo and NorthEast Air Cargo company offices to deal with freight such as mail and cargo to export and import goods to and from Newcastle and across the world. It also houses Freight Forwarding Agents such as; Camair, DHL, Kintetsu World Express, Kuehne & Nagel, Nippon Express, Schenker International, Davis Turner Air Cargo and Universal Forwarding. The Airport is also home to the Newcastle Airport Fire Academy.^[8][9]

Surface access[edit]

Light rail[edit]

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 city centre (22 mins).

Road transport[edit]

The Airport is connected to the A1 trunk road by the A696 dual carriageway. A half-hourly bus service (X77 / X78 / X79) links the Airport to the nearby villages of Ponteland and Darras Hall, as well as Newcastle City Centre. Services X77/X78/X79 are Monday to Saturday daytime services only, with the last journeys being made at around 18:00 hours. Service 74A operates a limited service to the City Centre on Sunday daytimes.

Ancillary services[edit]

The main handling agents at the Airport are Swissport UK (previously Groundstar) who provide services for eighteen of the above 26 airlines and Servisair, their cargo division has a significant operation at Newcastle. Servisair have recently brought a new operation to Newcastle (14 February 2011); SmartHandling by Servisair, which is limited to providing services to Easyjet.

There is one hotel on the Airport site and two immediately adjacent. The hotel on the airport grounds was completed in 2011 and is operated by the Doubletree by Hilton brand, with 179 bedrooms and a 4 star rating.^[10]

Next to the airport are the Britannia Airport Hotel and a Premier Inn, with another Premier Inn located at Callerton, near the general aviation terminal.

Traffic statistics[edit]

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, with around 4.4 million passengers passing through the airport in 2012 (below the 2004 total), although cargo volumes have broadly increased to record levels since 2005.^[2]

Newcastle Airport Passenger Totals 1997-2012 (millions)

Updated: 19 March 2013.[2]

British Airways Airbus A321 bound for London Heathrow

Air France operated by Brit Air at NCL

RAF Tornado at Newcastle Airport

Busiest domestic routes to and from Newcastle Airport (2012)^[2]

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	% Change 2011 / 12
1	London Heathrow	487,404	3
2	Belfast International	191,844	7
3	Bristol	170,375	2
4	Southampton	87,044	5
5	London Gatwick	84,053	11
6	Belfast City	39,185	5
7	Aberdeen	36,300	7
8	Exeter	29,494	21
9	Cardiff	13,214	12
10	Jersey	12,255	14

Busiest international routes to and from Newcastle Airport (2012)^[2]

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled	% Change 2011 / 12
1	Amsterdam	285,286	10
2	Alicante	233,346	10
3	Palma de Mallorca	232,518	4
4	Paris Charles de Gaulle	182,491	4
5	Dubai	162,349	0
6	Málaga	158,932	6
7	Tenerife South	157,628	4
8	Dublin	153,664	9
9	Faro	119,945	5
10	Dalaman	112,552	7
11	Lanzarote	75,706	9
12	Barcelona	70,429	0
13	Ibiza	67,669	6
14	Paphos	64,272	0
15	Sharm el-Sheikh	63,735	7
16	Las Palmas	51,779	2
17	Murcia	50,488	21
18	Brussels	47,301	2
19	Enfidha	43,433	628
20	Düsseldorf	43,173	1

Accidents and incidents[edit]

• 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.^[12]
• 11 February 2004 - A Robinson R22 Beta lost height while in a hover taxi and impacted the ground causing major damage to the aircraft and minor injuries to the pilot and passenger.^[13]
• 5 August 2008 - A Royal Air Force Tornado GR4A overran the runway making an emergency landing after suffering a bird strike. The crew were uninjured although the aircraft suffered damage.^[14]
• 25 May 2009 - A Rockwell Commander 112 registered G-FLPI veered off the runway while landing. The nosewheel collapsed, the propeller and fuselage suffered damage, but the pilot was uninjured.^[15]

Notes[edit]

External links[edit]

	North East England portal
	Aviation portal

• Official website

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