Other than Venice (one of world tourism's most desirable destinations) and Geneva (UN capital and world banking centre), Newcastle is the smallest city in Emirates' European network.*
* I had a bit too much time on my hands one day during lockdown.
One problem NCL, and Newcastle upon Tyne, has is that we are relatively isolated by English standards, and this leads to an overblown sense of how big or important we really are. We see it in the way NUFC fans got their local MP to ask questions in the House of Commons because a football team that hasn't won the league since 1927 committed the moral outrage of finishing 12th; The way people think that Northumberland has the most stunning coastline in the world (I've actually heard people say that) when it doesn't even have the most stunning coastline between Newcastle and Edinburgh; I could go on.
And sad to say, we also have seen it here when folks have commented about how bad it is that we only have one flight a day to Dubai, and that it doesn't land at a very convenient time.
We punch well above our weight. The folks who run NCL should be looking for new routes, sure, but there's a sense of entitlement in our region that's very interesting for those of us with an interest in psychology and sociology.
Rant over, as people disarmingly say when they think they might've just upset one or two people
