A Brief History

The Airport was opened in 1935 and incorporated a clubhouse, hangar, workshops, fuel garage and grass runway. At the time it cost £35,000 to build.

Following the war a decision was taken to concentrate development on this site, and in the 1950s over 5,000 people were using the Airport each year to travel to destinations such as Jersey and the Isle of Wight.

The 1960s saw tremendous growth in passenger numbers which was mainly due to passengers taking foreign holidays. A new runway was built, along with an apron and a new air traffic control tower.

The 1980s saw further investment in check-in, catering and duty-free shops and in 2000 a new £27 million extension was opened and the first low-cost airline arrived at the airport, with Go Fly inaugurating a service to London Stansted .

In August 2004 Newcastle Airport extended and refurbished the Departure Terminal which included new shops, cafes and 1,200 new seats.

Traffic

The airport has seen tremendous growth in recent years and the CAA recently named it as the fastest growing regional airport in the UK. The Airport handled 5.19 million passengers in 2005 and was also voted the North's favourite airport in a survey by Wanderlust.