one wonders why they need to reconfirm their commitment?

Because of Brexit:
-world war three will break out
-war in Europe will be rife
-the world economy will go into a long depression
-that 1929 2.0 is on the horizon
-that the NHS will fail
-nobody is going to trade with us and lend us money

So no wonder UA would pull the route with all these many catastrophes Brexit is bestowing upon the UK?

But then again, new EU routes and improved capacity on EU routes have been announced since the vote. So it can't all be that bad.

I just hope UA stays. I have no intention of using it - but I don't want the remainiacs to have a chance to blame Brexit. And we all know they will.

They need to re-confirm it because when it was announced last time it was stated that it was only for this season so "use it or lose it" - no political implications at all.

Great story on the BBC today about Northumbria Helicopters being called out by the owner of a dog that went missing in the North Pennines yesterday and low and behold they found it.
Well done lads.
The things people do for their pets!

UA pulled out
 

News yesterday the UA have withdrawn Newark. Only was a matter of time really. Especially when it just ran over the summer

Do you have a link?

Don't see anything on sale for 2017 so there is the clue.....only available option is via DUB.

Funny, only last week Bob Schumacher claimed they could be shifting up to all year round services.

Newcastle Airport keen to take fresh bite out of Big Apple (From The Northern Echo)

It'll be Brexit's fault no doubt!

No it isn't - service was announced as for this summer followed by a review, same as last year.

Last year the announcement for 2016 was on 17/09/15.

EWR
 

Lets hope thats not true. Loads seem to be decent at the moment.

However the continued fall in the value of the pound and uncertainty must have some effect on this route and others. Will be interesting to look back when we get to Aug 2017 and see what did actually happen to many routes as a result of Brexit.

UA pulling out
 

Well the airline told the handling agent yesterday that they are pulling the whole route due to low yields so that's the clue. Will be announced in the next week.

"It'll be Brexit's fault no doubt!"

sure as hell hasn't helped................

It was stated last week the Airport will talk with United in the comming weeks we heard the exact same title tattle last year. If it doesnt return then its a shame but late May- early September is hardly like losing a daily year round route like EK.Should UA leave NCL then IMO the Airport should channel the USA connection towards a carrier like Icelandair to open up North America via KEF , Great onwards connections to the States from their hub and already heading in the right direction instead of flying east to AMS or South to busy CDG/LHR

Service is doing better than last year by around 10% last time I looked at figures.
It still needs another year or 2 to prove it will work.

I wouldn't believe anything until official statements however would seem very odd when papers reporting year round??

Maybe airport has another airline ready to take over (delta, AA??)

Just a thought - Could it be possible rumour has started by handling staff (seasonal temporary) have been given notice before end of this year's season, and this has since been added to and exaggerated. Can't see United advising handling agent on an arrangement, before a major meeting with airport executives is planned at the end of this season to discuss/negotiate the service being extended next year -Is there a reliable source for this info. There would be no need to advise handling agent 9 months in advance of a possible May start of a 2017 season.

Seasonal staff starting rumour about next year. Are you real. Check Uniteds website you can book all except Newcastle. If same agent handles UA all over the uk and u could not book flights from NCL they might just ask the question are u coming back. Let's be honest NCL is not going to attract US tourists unless price is good and it's not it's very high. Also 3 months a year is pretty pathetic. Do what EK did. Put on all year for 3 years and then decide. Outcome good loads, good cargo as regular. Result success.

Newcastle wouldnt be on sale anyway surely as stated last week the airport will be talking with United soon about next season. Dont believe all this he said she said until its been confirmed by NCL theirself.

UA being dropped
 

Yeah the handling agent staff have been told because that is half of their work. They have a roster and the staff do both the UA and the EK. Your argument for seasonals doesn't stack up because all the staff on the UA EK roster are full time permanent. Once the UA has departed, checkin for the EK opens, so yes I would say that the handling agent would tell their staff. All of the staff on the UA/EK roster were hauled in to the landside management office and told by the Shift Manager that an official announcement would be coming out shortly, but UA have dropped NCL because of poor sales. If you don't believe it, you'll see shortly.

There seems little point in the airport having talks with the airline if the decision has already been made. We did have all these rumours last year and then came the announcement of an extra days operation. Another explanation could be they want to change Handling Agent.

In the absence of figures from the CAA for May onwards it is hard to judge how the route is doing but figures appear to be up and Business and premium appear to be having a higher take-up this year which would bump up yield.

Newcastle will be the only airport in the uk for United not on sale as we are the only airport that is a seasonal service.
What about the other routes to Europe that are seasonal each year are they on sale yet?

Will try and work out the figures again over the next few days haven't had a chance over the last few weeks but June was very good

And the loads ok !

NCL Loads from the seat-maps - 16/45/108 config


Today outbound 10-15-83 = 108 inbound 8-17-103 = 128


Tomorrow outbound 14-20-101 = 135 inbound 9-20-108 = 137


Saturday outbound 14-17-103 = 134 inbound 11-13-104 = 128

Other seasonal routes are on sale.

I'll wait for the official announcement... I hope they haven't canned us just yet


If they did daily March-October for 2017, then canned it, I'd give them their due... If they announced daily March-October S17 then reduced (4/5 weekly?) winter schedule W17/18 and then decided to can it... I'd respect them for trying their very best

2 seasonal summers, with an increased frequency for the 2nd summer, and then canning it - in my opinion - can't give a representative result regarding demand

The first seasonal toe in the water didn't come close to persuading them to go year round off the bat, some routes actually do. The late announcement for 2016 and the fact the route has done OK but not stellar given it is by far the fastest way from NCL to the US and the only non stop service on a hub carrier suggests the market is a little soft for United.
They have only so many B757s and as soon as a better business case for that aircraft's use can be made elsewhere, it's the most mobile of assets, it's gone.

BRS failed as it was too close to LHR, BFS hangs by a thread and subsidy, BHX has plateaued at once daily, twice daily having killed yields. Remember NCL has a number of good options connecting West but only one sensible option going East, that's why Emirates have a true monopoly and United have a seasonal holiday flight. Such a shame IMHO!

To be honest I doubt anyone will agree with me, but I think more Star Alliance presence at Newcastle would help out - regular travelers could at least have the option of using one alliance, one stop east and west to most destinations, where traveling with existing carriers may require 2 or more stops

If we had a link to Frankfurt, or perhaps Zurich, it would allow people to use Star alliance travelling East and West on different business trips with LH/UA or LX/UA (as well as Brussels Airlines perhaps, most likely for Africa)

It would probably take time to build up the following, but every little helps doesn't it?

If this week's loads are representative of the whole season, I can't see why they wouldn't give us at least one last proper shot... I'm not ready to say goodbye yet

KLM customers might disagree....

Well we wait and see , If its gone then so be it maybe we may have to wait several years again before any US carrier looks at the route.

If they are full time permanent what do they do for the 9 months UA don't operate. Also UA have a 170 seat 757, EK a 400 plus 777 so would need more staff

UA
 

United pay for an unbelievable amount of staff bearing in mind that they only have a 757 operating the route. They can easily have 5/6 desks open. I just find it bonkers that they haven't given the route a fair crack of the whip, especially in November/December time for Christmas shoppers etc. It's a shame, but when you can get to the US via Heathrow, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels for significantly cheaper, is it any real surprise?

Edi have also had an increase in the amount of flights to New York as didn't American and delta come in up there?

This is such a shame if true. Pity they couldn't have tried a longer season to thoroughly test demand.

It would be easy to blame a number of factors but the marked drop in the pound vs the dollar recently after Brexit must have two main effects:
1. Brits going to the States will find it much more expensive to do so, possibly leading to people planning holidays elsewhere.
2. People paying GBP to buy seats from an airline that does its accounting in USD will mean yields get hammered even if they were good to start with.
I don't know but at a guess I would say the majority of pax on NCL-EWR would fall into both categories.
All sad.

RE. Handling agent rumour - There are 3 Agents servicing at Newcastle:

Swissport: Aer Lingus, Air France, Balkan, Citywing, Eastern Airways, Emirates, Eurowings, KLM, Ryanair, SAS, Thomas Cook, Thomson, Wideroe (United?)

Aviator: Air Malta, bmi regional, British Airways, easyJet, Flybe, Onur Air

Jet2.com: Jet2 (Their own agent inhouse)

from: Lost Baggage - Newcastle Airport

Shame if true, but not a surprise. Pax figures have been inconsistent, sometimes respectable while well below 50 on other occasions. Pricing has been high to accommodate the low loads, although there have been bargains to be had with £400 returns.
As someone mentioned before, it would take an awful lot to entice business/frequent travellers to use UA and abandon the air miles with other carriers and nobody is going to commit to this route as it only runs for 3 months and isn't daily...and is always delayed 2 hours. I've been in a position to use it 3 times since it started and on all 3 occasions have ended up using an alternative. The first time was due to price, the other 2 I could get one way but not the other (Wednesday/end of service)
I think if they're going to do it then do it, as EK did, don't waste time with a half @rsed effort. Run it year round, doesn't have to be daily, just try to get people to be confident using it, not a small window of opportunity.

On a brighter (slightly) note, BMI Regional are looking into adding Bergen, however at this stage I'm told the plan is NCL-SVG-BGO-SVG-NCL, (or BGO first) though so no extra flights as such, from NCL at least

Would be a good move for Bmi let's hope they do it.

Flew the Newcastle - Bergan route via Stavanger many times with Dan Air in the past, it used to go daily at around 12 lunch time if I recall.

I knew they were going to try that ;) I could see it a mile off with the long turnaround in Stavanger

I hope they do... If there's demand they could split them, 37 seats per day, per destination isn't really very much but it's a start to test the water, and at a good frequency... Would be nice to get the Norwegians coming over to shop again, although cheap as chips flights to London probably mean that's an extremely niche market now

VentureGo - Handling Agents
 

VentureGo, you are behind the times with your information.
Wideroe, Air Malta and Onur Air no longer operate out of Newcastle and Jet2.com have never been self handling - they only use their own staff for check in.

Jet2 do self handle at NCL do they not?