Our biggest downfall is the lack of middle class, people who may have 2 holidays (likely 1 long haul, 1 short/medium haul) and 1 or 2 city/weekend breaks every year
If we had that we could be talking 10mppa and a much wider range of destinations and frequencies. Look at Bristol... Traveling down there regularly, it always amazes me just how similar Bristol and Newcastle are, I feel at home down there and so much is practically identical, except they are more wealthy. It could be argued they have a larger catchment but having BHX, LHR, CWL, EXT and NQY siphoning off a sizeable amount of theirs, probably has a similar effect to 50% of our catchment being in the sea.
In my eyes Newcastle is (unfortunately) a poor man's Bristol, hence BRS is EZY's 4th largest base and has more than double the passengers we do. Don't get me wrong I love Newcastle and really do think it has a lot of worth as a city, and as a tourist and business destination - but it's the people that live here that spoil it. I'm fully aware I'll probably get called a snob, but I challenge you to argue that point. Not everyone, but a lot of them.