I believe in "use it or lose it" so where possible I fly from Newcastle...
However, the better half lives in Bristol so it's relatively convenient for me, and the return fares from BRS were not to be sniffed at, especially with the convenience of my easyJet plus card
We did Milan, Rome and Venice from Newcastle last year with Bmi regional, Brussels Airlines and Alitalia
For routes like Venice, though.. Do people really want to spend hours just travelling to the airport, on what is likely to be a 3/4 day trip. Look at Berlin, it's not doing too badly at all, and I can say anecdotally that a lot of people I know have only just booked up to go, or considered it seriously because of the direct flights (myself included, 29th June I'm off). It was probably the biggest example where people would say "I'd love to go but it's such a pain to get to from here, it's not worth it"
And for anyone interested, quick neb on the computer screens today. EZY569, NCL-BRS, 119 pax (124 with 5 no show) and 13 checked in bags