geordiejet, I understand what you're saying. By no means would I class myself as well off but I do know that I have been very lucky to be able to travel as I have. My most exotic trips have actually been by myself, through good fortune of not currently having very many financial responsibilities (and a helping hand from a credit card along the way - seemingly a much better idea then than now)
I do apologise if any of my comments caused offence, it was certainly not my intention to come across as judgemental or insulting.
I simply struggle to understand how, when many alternative holiday destinations can be as cheap as, or cheaper than your average Spanish/Turkish resort, nobody seems to consider them. I've heard people complain at spending £5000+ on a family holiday to Palma or Marmaris, and how awful it is that the prices have gone up. It'll be interesting to see if the new availability of these routes for Summer 2018/19 makes people consider them. Places like Almeria and Halkidiki.
If it's somewhere they like, and somewhere they want to return to so as to guarantee they have a good time. Certainly, who are we to criticise.
I'm over the moon that Cancun has been increased. For all it "may as well be Benidorm" for us to have bagged 3 weekly flights is fantastic in my opinion. To have 5 weekly long haul flights on alternate weeks is fantastic!
People, myself included, may complain about the lack of destinations from Newcastle, particularly when it comes to affordable options on popular cities routes, or the lack thereof. But we do extremely well, and I'm sure we will continue to do so in our own niche.
I'd love to be able to have a weekend in Budapest or a holiday in Morocco, direct from Newcastle. I'll continue to hope these services come in time. But I do understand that for an economy such as ours, connecting through a hub or travelling to another UK airport is going to be necessary in some circumstances. I only find it a shame that the added expense and hassle of that puts many people off. Direct flights build on existing markets and in some cases, create their own. Just think back to the "I'll give it 6 months" comments about Emirates
ash666 - I would be inclined to disagree. That may be true in some cases, and markets will change. But Prague and Krakow have been served successfully for 11 months of the year with Jet2 for a decade. Every year a new load of students come to Newcastle who may make use of the flights, some people might return if they enjoyed it. I did Berlin in June last year thanks to the direct flight, I intend to go back because I loved it! There was also a surprising amount of VFR traffic on that flight, as I'm sure there are on Ryanair's Polish routes. Hopefully that's enough to keep them afloat