any ideas ??

didn’t think we would see easyJet doing this route. Good to see that they are trying new things for NCL hopefully see more in the coming months

I can't see another NCL to AMS route lasting.
KLM fly up to 5 times per day with lots of connecting passengers so Easyjet won't pick up any of these.

It's a shame they couldn't have been more inventive with their route options.

I think when you compare the size of other AMS markets such as Bristol, Glasgow where easyJet and KLM co-exist, there may be room for pure P2P for weekend visits either end. Perfect long weekend options with these flights.

Kind regards

BristolexFlyer

agree easyJet is after point to point it won’t effect KLM’s traffic much as I’m guessing 90% of it will be transferring to other klm flights

Spot on....these flights are aimed at the leisure P2P market...with fares as shown , I think they should do well.

Very curious as to what the big announcement could by....maybe Turkish Airlines to Istanbul

Bare in mind a lot of the current leisure market to Amsterdam will probably currently use the Booze Cruise boat. Would they change from that?

When fares start from £25/£30ish then yes. Not everybody wants to get the ferry.

I would be surprised if they didn’t make it work.

They've tried it before mind

Don't forget that this is shown as a new route from AMS..I believe the Dutch are the largest European source of tourists to visit Newcastle and the North East each year.

either way, great to see another easyJet service and also agree this will target different types of passenger so hopefully an overall increase in numbers

I agree - probably competing with the ferry as much as KLM

Have they tried it before? I don’t recall easyjet operating NCL-AMS when they had a base. The airport claim the route is being reinstated, I am not so sure it is.

I vaguely remember it but a few years ago now.

Same here....a long time ago,....but I thought it was Jet 2 who operated it.

100% easyJet operated it around 2012

EZY AMS
 

Can’t remember the year it operated but I’m 99% sure it went close to the same as the KL964 on a evening

Taken from OTNE - 30/06/2014: 19:07->19:33 G-EZGK [A319] EZY6453 NCL-->AMS

Thats a 10 year gap in operation....it may have been Copenhagen that Jet 2 tried a few years ago.

Jet2 have only done CPH as Xmas flights. EZY formerly operated NCL-CPH though for a few years

Thanks, LiamNCL. OK I can see then they did operate the route for a while. Hopefully it will succeed this time around.

Lounge
 

Just a quick message in response to some negative comments about the Aspire lounge and the security at NCL.

The lounge is now fully open and had no issues getting in this morning.
it’s much larger than before and is very nice. The staff are really helpful and pleasant. There is separate areas for airline status passengers and paid for access.

Went through security in about 10 mins. Very efficient. Airport quite busy.

Overall an excellent experience.

Thanks for the update.

Believe it’s been cancelled due to a complex issue with the route that was going to be served. Would have filled a huge hole in the market.

This makes me think it was going to be Turkish to IST. Probably one of the biggest and most logical holes that needs filling in our route portfolio currently.

yes IST is high on the list but still time to announce in time for the summer.

they are having a lot of issues with engines also

The big gaps are North America and Africa I'd have said. Everything else is adequately served?

Yes, I'm thinking North America too. Interesting...

Westjet?

JetBlue A321neo to New York a few flights per week might work?

I think we're entering into the realms of fantasy here!!

Transatlantic is essentially a thing of the past, at least for the time being, from regional airports other than Manchester, and if you can call it regional nowadays, Edinburgh. The USA is no longer a cheap destination for UK leisure travellers that would make up the bulk of any demand from NCL, and do you really see enough inbound demand for the Northeast from US originating passengers who for the most part, leisure-wise, can't see far beyond London, Stratford and Edinburgh.

BHX is closer to the other English pull, Stratford upon Avon and it can't attract or support scheduled services from the USA.

As was suggested upthread Turkish is the most likely "big fish" to be lined up at NCL, or even Pegasus perhaps to provide hub connections at Istanbul to Asia and Australia.

We definitely get a lot of North Americans visiting along Hadrian's Wall, although unlike the Antipodeans that market drops off massively as soon as the nights start cutting in. The two factors that would reduce the likelihood of a NA airline flying, even seasonally, into NCL, though, are that they don't see it as a hardship to drive from Edinburgh or York just for a couple of hours stop-off at some Roman ruins. And the ones who stay for weeks on end are doing a longer tour that normally has Edinburgh or London somewhere near either end of it :(
Still, twice a week A321 to NYC or a connection point in ?anada? Could work. But then again, I'm not the CEO of Westjet or JetBlue :)

Thinking outside the box, Icelandair or Play?

I agree Turkish is the most likely here, but until this is confirmed (if it ever is) there is still room for speculation on what else it could be.

I wouldn't say it would be too far into the realms of fantasy of a New York connection, we did have this around 2016 with United B757s though of-course this didn't work out. Perhaps though with a lower cost base of JetBlue, more fuel efficient and slightly smaller planes and a less frequent schedule (United operated 5/6 times a week which no wonder was overkill) there maybe rationale to suggest how it would work better.

Africa? I wouldn't have thought so, what big gap in the NCL market is there needing filled there… Tripoli?
Would be interested to see what American or Canadian operator might attempt to dabble again (Jetblue and WestJet seem a longshot)

Didn't I read a few months ago that, following the success of their MAN route, Ethiopian were looking at serving another airport in the north of the UK....
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Or is it Saudia? They are expanding and offer many Indian and Asian connections via Jeddah

Not sure what Ethiopian would mean by 'another' airport in the north of the UK, they don't serve anywhere north of Manchester. Edinburgh would be the obvious choice long before Newcastle (and actually is in the north of the UK :) )
Saudia might be a long shot. Under normal circs there would be no rationale in going up against well-established EK at Newcastle before having a bite at Edinburgh for example. Sadly, there might well be enough NUFC / Saudi government fanboys around to bite into EK's market (Not as far-fetched as it might sound - Folks outside the North East shouldn't underestimate the all-consuming nature of football fandom around here, and most Premier League fans these days are firmly in the market for long haul travel).

I don't think that I would class anywhere in Africa as a significant gap at all. Morocco would be a very nice addition, and I think it will one day - either Ryanair/TUI/Jet2 to Marrakech and/or Agadir.
TUI with an extra few Frequencies to Cape Verde/Egypt/Tunisia is quite likely to happen in the not too distant future if the markets stay strong and nothing major happens in those destinations (again). Maybe Jet2 will go back to Egypt/Tunisia one day, but I can't see that happening any time soon. Egyptair? Royal Air Maroc? no chance this side of 2030 and even then, desperately unlikely.

Further into Africa... I think I can quite confidently say that we won't ever be getting scheduled, direct flights to Nigeria, Kenya or South Africa and frankly, a link to any other country just isn't happening, ever. Apart from... Maybe, just maybe, with their current growth trajectory we might see Ethiopian deep into the 2030's with a 737 MAX via somewhere in Southern Europe. And that's a big maybe. Other than a handful of ad-hoc charters like the old days down to Mombasa, that would totally exhaust all of our options for Africa links. Maybe TUI will do Zanzibar direct one day...

Anyway... North America. To be successful, it would have to have frequency - a minimum of 5 weekly in order to open up to business, and less flexible passengers. Ideally you want daily. Twice weekly to NYC is a waste of time, you're going to leak all of your passengers to EDI/MAN and via hubs. That'll kill your route in no time. Plenty of people complained and went elsewhere even when United was 5/6 weekly because it didn't fit their schedule.
AA, UA, B6 are all getting new TATL narrowbodies. I do think B6 to JFK is our best option, as they'll be better on price and still offer connections over JFK. UA has the upper hand on connections over EWR, but loses it on price - and we are a very price sensitive market. Like it or not, cheapest wins out of NCL.
American would do nicely with the Oneworld loyalty out of NCL, and they almost came here in 2005. But they've pulled back on regional flying. Will they grow again with their new A21N's?
Delta... It would pretty much have to be a widebody, they don't have A321LR or XLR's on order and I think if ever we see a DL scheduled flight to Newcastle, it would rely on XLR's being ordered, and most likely would be to Atlanta as a hub connection. ATL was listed as a destination NCL are seeking in their masterplan. and we never know how the movement cap at Amsterdam is going to work out. What's to say KL/DL won't team up on a new transatlantic arrangement. The people that currently fly NCL-LAX/SFO/LAS/MIA/MCO etc. over AMS would be just as likely to do so over ATL. The same logic applies to any prospective AA NCL-JFK in a tie up with BA. The airlines/airline groups absolutely have the power to shift the demand to other parts of the business as they see fit... and capacity at LHR and AMS is only going to squeeze more and more as time goes on and the growth of the aviation industry outstrips the capacity available. Heathrow's 3rd runway is already obsolete before construction even starts. But this is another topic.
I do believe that more focus on regional airports will be necessary for growth in the future. Newcastle can easily double in capacity without major development. Bigger, fuller, hub airports in Europe can't. But people still want to fly.

As for Canada. I would love to see Westjet or Air Transat a couple of times a week to Toronto with a 7M8, even just seasonally. The traditional market to Canada that Wardair, CP, Air Transat and the rest used to serve has unfortunately died (quite literally in most cases). But Canada is resurging in popularity and there could just about be room for more regional air service from the UK. But realistically we need to expect to get in line with the likes of Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol and Glasgow for that kind of service.

Turkish to Istanbul is the hub connection we need the most now. It has to be a matter of when, not if. It should hopefully go a long way to bolstering Star Alliance loyalty in NE England and even bring growth from Lufthansa and Aegean, important routes that I really hope we can keep a hold of. TK have mentioned us in their growth strategy, Turkiye is very popular right now and IST is positioning itself as a global mega hub, with no sign of slowing down. Seize the moment I reckon. More will follow.

New route
 

thinking could it be India or China?
Lots of students but I would guess Manchester and Edinburgh before us but that would be some catch for the airport

just if it’s a route issue with slots I’m thinking it’s further afield

Some "building bricks with straw" going on here!?!