Coasting
Sorry to keep butting in but…. Your knowledge of the aviation business obviously does not stretch to regional airport? Yes Newcastle is a regional airport ‘outside the Southeast’ of England however your examples of an airport ‘like’ Newcastle are not quite right!
“Cardiff, Bournemouth, Teesside, Humberside and Leeds to name a few”
CAA passenger stats 12 months to September this year.
Cardiff 1.781m pax
Bournemouth 0.738m pax
Teesside 0.890m pax
Humberside 0.466m pax
Leeds 2.515m pax
And Newcastle 5.101m pax (Month ending November 5.2m forecast 06 5.9m even without AA)
That is double the biggest of your ‘regional selection’. Newcastle is the ninth busiest airport in the UK. It was ninth even before the explosion of low cost!
It is busier than Bristol which has a transatlantic route with Continental! Like I said the people of the Northeast deserve better air links, we do not have the luxury of dozens of long haul flights on the door step!