and be the start of the major long haul growth
But where's this growth going to come from? Newcastle's a long way down the hierarchy - passenger levels are similar to Bristol, Liverpool, Belfast and East Midlands, some way behind Luton, Birmingham, Glasgow and Edinburgh, and way, way behind Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester. Manchester, the smallest of the big four handles nearly four times the number of passengers that Newcastle does.
Growth can stimulated by (a) more accessible locations overseas (b) more local visitors or (c) the airport acting as a hub. It's difficult to foresee (c) happening - there just isn't the physical capacity. Newcastle's peripheral in England - it's not a major business centre, and there isn't much culture/tourism, so again it's difficult to see much (b) growth here (which would probably be shorthaul anyway).
As for (a), well, EK is a start. Crewboi has already alluded to the physical problems of handling the EK 330, so any expansion here would require further capacity. But where's the market? The charter market is seasonal so where's the regular business/leisure travel going to come from to form this growth? There might
just be sufficient potential for a couple of charters in summer to New York and California, but little for regular weekly or daily flights - it would have happened by now if it was going to happen.
Having said all this, I'll be flying NCL-DUB-HKG and back at the end of September. I commute from NCL virtually every week so I'm well aware of the airport's strengths and weaknesses; my longhauls are either via AMS or CDG - anything to avoid LHR, which is why EK's enterprise is to be welcomed.
3A