As a regional airport, I think this year will be a very good year for NCL, given the new routes announced already and hopefully more to come. A shame that NCL didn't get Aer Lingus again, perhaps they may have been wary due to poor loads on their previous attempts back into NCL, but apart from that, I think the airport has a good mix of Mainline, Lo-Cost and charter airlines, which shall stand the airport in good stead.
What everyone has to remember is that Newcastle has an extremely limited catchment area, roughly 3m people, which is tiny compared to the likes of BRS, LPL, EDI and GLA. So I think the airport is doing rather well as it stands given the current economic climate.
Rant over
