The Issue

Every year, tens of thousands of people from the North East have to either travel via London, Paris or Amsterdam airports to get to their final destination, or travel long distances by car or train to airports such as Edinburgh or Manchester.

In the press we keep hearing about London airports needing to expand to keep up with demand, but Northern airports hardly have any flights or passengers and a lot of the passengers that they do have are having to travel to London, Amsterdam or Paris for connecting flights.

Below are just a couple of examples:

Newcastle to Florida

As an example, if someone from Newcastle wants to fly to Florida, they have to either:

1. Fly from Newcastle to Heathrow and then get a connecting flight to Florida.
2. Take the train/car to London Kings Cross, connect to Heathrow, then fly to Florida (possibly having to stay in a hotel the night before).
3. Take the train/car to Manchester, usually having to stay over night in a hotel, before flying to Florida.
4. Fly to Paris or Amsterdam before getting a connecting flight.
5. Estimated additional cost for a North East family of four = £600-1000, compared to a direct flight from Newcastle (Peak). 

Not only does this mean that the cost of their holiday is significantly more expensive than the cost for someone who lives closer to the London airports or Manchester, it also has a huge impact on the environment.

*Sometimes there is a direct flight from Newcastle to Orlando that flies once a week but that is the only option.

 

Newcastle to Nice

If someone from Newcastle wants to travel to Nice, the closest airport they can fly directly from is Leeds (not every day or all year). The other options without going through the London airports are Liverpool, Manchester or Edinburgh. All of these are least a 2-3 hour drive from Newcastle.

Someone from London on the other hand has at least the following direct flight options:

• From LHR, there are 4 flights daily to Nice (BA)
• From LGW, there are 7 flights daily to Nice (BA/EasyJet) … There are sometimes two Nice to Gatwick flights within 15 minutes of each other. 
• From LCY, there is 1 flight daily to Nice (BA)
• From STN, there is 1 flight daily to Nice (RyanAir)

 

The Change

The change I am looking for is to take pressure off Southern airports by utilising the empty/quieter Northern airports such as Newcastle and Teesside for the people in the North, spreading the flights more evenly.

This means:

1. More direct flights from Northern airports, turning what is a 8+ hr journey from arriving at Newcastle airport to arriving in Nice, into a 4 hour experience. Turning what would be a 24+ hour journey to Florida into less than 12 hours. 
2. Less expensive holidays for people in the North East. 
3. More income for Northern airports.
4. Less impact on the environment due to unnecessary 1st leg commutes to other airports by train, plane or car.