On 23 August, Newcastle International Airport had what it says was its busiest day for international travel since it opened, with 21,751 international passengers passing through the terminal. The airport says the total came from broader growth across its route network, not from one event or airline.
EasyJet opened a new base at Newcastle in March and now has 31 destinations on sale from the airport. Jet2 has added routes to Porto, Preveza and Palermo this year, and Ryanair has added Budapest, Malta and Marrakech, giving passengers more direct routes to southern Europe and North Africa without connecting through Manchester or London.
The airport says it has invested almost £60m in its facilities over the past two years to handle the extra traffic. That includes a three-storey terminal extension with a larger departure lounge, an expanded security search area the airport says gets 99 per cent of passengers through in under ten minutes at peak times, and an international baggage hall extended to five belts.
The spending sits inside a much larger plan. Newcastle Airport's masterplan, published in July 2025, sets a target of 9 million passengers a year by 2040, up from 5.48 million in 2025, and projects the airport's contribution to the regional economy rising from £1bn to as much as £1.9bn a year over the same period.
The plan also includes a proposed cargo development called AirLink, a 750,000 sq ft facility the airport says could support 1,400 jobs on site and add up to £165m a year to the North East economy. It has not yet gone through planning.
On-site employment at the airport is projected to rise from 3,200 to 5,000 people by 2040, with supply-chain jobs across the region rising from 17,000 to 32,000.
That expansion is taking place under new ownership. In May, Aena, the Spanish airport operator that is majority owned by the Spanish state, bought a 51 per cent stake in a new holding company that now owns the 49 per cent of Newcastle Airport previously held directly by InfraBridge. InfraBridge retains 49 per cent of that holding company. The deal also covered Leeds Bradford Airport and was worth around £270m in total.
The seven North East councils that make up LA7 keep their direct 51 per cent stake in the airport unchanged, which leaves Aena with an indirect economic interest of a little under a quarter. Aena already owns 51 per cent of London Luton Airport, giving it a stake in three English regional airports.