Newcastle Airport History
Newcastle Airport Quick Facts
- Established July 1935 costing £35,000
- First Scheduled flight was between Croydon and Perth, Scotland.
- over 5 million passengers a year
- Largest Airport in the North East
- Over 85 Flight Destinations
- During the 2nd world war, Newcastle Airport was an RAF base.
1950’s
Additional routes were added flying to Dublin, Amsterdam and Dusseldorf. During this time Newcastle Airport saw the start of package holidays flying to Isle of Man, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands. There was approx 5,500 passengers flying from Newcastle Airport each year.
1960’s
The airport was formed by the North East Regional Airport Committee. The Airport was expanded with a construction of a new terminal and the Airport was booming with over 700,000 passengers per year, including destinations such as Spain.
1970’s
Newcastle airport was recognised by the Government body as a Category B Airport, meaning it could become a regional international airport with a mandate to provide short and medium-haul scheduled international services.
1980’s
Newcastle airport reached 1 million passengers per year. Towards the end of the 80s, this increased to almost 1.6 million passengers per year
1990’s
The 90’s saw some improvements such as the integration of railway services into the airport.
Early 90s, the gulf war and the recession had effected some airports in the midlands and south of England with record traffic losses of more than 20 per cent.Newcastle Airport was busy recording an impressive rise in traffic to a new record of 1.67 million passengers per year.
2000’s
By 2000, passenger figures had increased to 3 million per year. £27 million was invested to extend the terminal to double the size of the check in hall which was officially opened by Prime Minister Tony Blair in October 2000.
2003 was a record breaking year for Newcastle Airport reaching 3.9 million passengers a year, with Easyjet flights helping in the low cost revolution.
In 2004, northern local celebrities Ant and Dec opened the latest terminal extension which doubled the size of the departure lounge and provided a wide range of new shops, services, restaurants and cafes.
In 2005, Newcastle Airport was the fastest growing airport in the UK.
More Recently Emirates was the 1st airline to offer scheduled long-haul flights from Newcastle. On 1 September 2007 the airline began daily direct services to Dubai.