NortheastTravelman; the 757 has been widely used on transatlantic flights for around a decade now. Flying on a 737, 757 or 777 the individual seat pitch does not change much as it’s the airline that determines seat-pitch, not the aircraft type.
Anyway, Newcastle to New York is only 6 to 7 hours, similar in length to many UK-Egypt flights which are also operated by the likes of 757s and even A320s.
99.999% of the flying public have no idea what type of aircraft they are flying on and 99.999% probably couldn’t care less either. An aircraft type in not a selling point (with perhaps the exception of the A380), a direct, non-stop flight for a customer’s local airport is a huge selling point.