Getting Better All The Time. (Newcastle International Airport (NCL))

Member Name: michaelhudson

Product:	Newcastle International Airport (NCL)
Date:	03/08/01 (133 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good transport links via the Tyne & Wear Metro, above average facilities

Disadvantages: Still lacking in destinations, the adjacent hotels are terrible

In all honesty, if I'd rated Newcastle Airport at the end of 1999 I'd have given it no more than two stars. However, since that time the place has improved-in my eyes at least-beyond all recognition.

Time was when Newcastle Airport was a shabby little place with a brance of W.H. Smiths and very little else besides. About the only thing to recommend it was the efficient link to Newcastle city centre provided by the Tyne & Wear Metro(an excellent method of travel that costs one pound seventy pence and takes around twenty-five minutes from Newcastle Central Station). The parking was expensive ,and from my parents experience with a company called Callerton Parking(who damaged their car and then denied all responsibility in the rudest manner possible), I didn't have any confidence in the nearby long-stay parking facilities. On coming back from a year in the Far East last November, I was extremely impressed with the improvements. In the place of the shabby little arrivals and departures lounges with their overpriced snack bars stood a gleaming new arrivals area with two branches of Costa Coffee, a new bar called "Cushie Butterfields"-not a bad effort for an airport pub-and several restaurants such as Latinos(Italian), Baxters(soup) and the continental style Cafe Rapide. In addition, from being an airport I mainly associated with horrible package flights to lager lout resorts, they had started to add flights to places such as Oslo, Lyon and Cork. With Sabena taking you to Prague via Brussels and the local carrier Gill Airways operating shuttle flights to Paris Charles De Gaulle on behalf of Air France I actually felt that Newcastle was becoming a true gateway to the world.

Newcastle Airport is by no means perfect-none of the "no-frills" operators fly from here(Ryanair fly to Dublin from Teeside)- and when the Metro isn't running(the first trains to the airport from my home don't start until after 7am) it's
a very expensive taxi ride away.However, it's still far and away the best airport between Manchester and Scotland. There's a lot of room for improvement but at least they're on the right track.

Summary: