For some reason it appears the powers that be decided passengers were the only way at Newcastle. It appears very little, if any investment has been put into freight or ancillary work..hangers , paint , maintenance.
Apart from developing the freight village (at a guess I would say 3 times larger than MME's hangar?), Apron G for mail/freight flights, and the academy. Newcastle doesn't have a lot of spare space for big hangars, the site is a lot smaller than MME
This is despite a freight base market of Pharmaceuticals,Del la Rue ,Nissan etc.
Del la rue is away, and the others won't sustain freight only services. Nissan 'just in time' charters tend to be spilt between NCL/MME depending on origin/operator
Have a look at a map - the urban areas in the northeast are small and surrounded by fields and moorland...