Whey, Hadaway Man! (Newcastle International Airport (NCL))

Member Name: meah

Product:	Newcastle International Airport (NCL)
Date:	29/03/02 (654 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent transport links provided by Tyne and Wear Metro

Disadvantages: Could provide more destinations

Newcastle International Airport is located just south of the City near Ponteland and until a couple of years ago it wasn’t much to write home about, however after a major revamp it ensures a pleasant start to your holiday or business trip.

There are two check in halls, one caters for charter flights and the other schedule and domestic flights, the check in halls are bright, large and clean with an abundance of luggage trolleys; there is a Tourist Information desk, a branch of W.H.Smith, a branch of Costa Coffee, a fast food outlet and an obvious presence of security guards and airport staff. The national car hire operators Avis, Budget, Hertz, National and Thrifty all operate from the passenger terminal and arrangements can be made to collect or leave hired cars at the Airport.

On the second floor of the building, which is reached by stairs, lift or escalator, there is a large lounge with ample seating, branches of W.H.Smith, Boots and a manicure parlour. Refreshments are provided by Costa Coffee, a fast food outlet, two restaurants one of which is Latinos (serving Italian food), Baxters (serving mugs of soup) and the continental style Café Rapide. Entrance to the departure lounge can also be found on this level.

Again the departure lounge is large and bright with ceiling to floor windows along the full length of one wall looking out over the runways and tarmac. Here we find another branch of W.H.Smith, Boots, the Duty Free Shop, Latinos, Costa Coffee and a bar called Cushie Butterfields. Seating is plentiful and spacious although most seats have arm rests so if you have a long flight delay there are not many seats you can lie across.

The baggage collection lounge is large and there are public phones, seats and public toilets. On the whole I have found baggage collection to be quite speedy at Newcastle. I live a thirty-five minute drive from the Airport so I normally phone home as soon as I reach baggage collection to tell
whoever is collecting me that I have landed and by the time I collect my luggage and get to the main doors of the Airport I have about a five minute wait for my lift to arrive.

There are plenty of TV screens and information boards keeping you up to date with flight arrivals, departures and delays throughout the Airport. Public telephones and public toilets are located throughout the building; for parents there are nursing and baby changing rooms supported by a bottle warm heating service at the cafes.

Dailey schedule domestic flights are available to:
Aberdeen (British Airways five flights)
Belfast (BA four flights)
Birmingham (BA four flights)
Bristol (BA three flights)
Cardiff (BA one flight)
Gatwick (BA five flights)
Heathrow (BA six flights)
Stansted (Go three flights)
Southampton (BA two flights)

The Airport also has daily schedule international flights to:
Amsterdam Schiphol (KLM five flights)
Brussels (Sabena four flights)
Cork (BA one flight)
Dublin (BA three flights)
Dusseldorf (Lufthansa one flight)
Oslo (BA one flight)
Paris Charles de Gaulle (Air France three flights)
Stavanger (Braathens two flights)

There are also once a week scheduled flights to:
Alicante, Malaga, Palma, Faro, Lanzarote, Tenerife, Paphos, Larnaca, Guernsey and Jersey.

Newcastle Airport also provides an extensive passenger charter flight services to all the popular short haul holiday destinations and some long haul destinations and charter flight freight service to destinations all over the world. A sixteen-acre freight village at the airport is the base for three handling agents and twelve forwarding agents, providing a comprehensive service to importers and exporters.

The Airport provides both long stay and short stay car parks. You must pre book for the long stay car park (at least one working day before departure), the cost is £3.80 per d
ay and you have to book a minimum of three days; free transport is provided for all passengers and their luggage from the long stay car par to the terminal.

Short stay parking for three hundred cars is provided directly outside the terminal building, to get into the car park you collect a ticket from the machine at the barrier, before returning to your car insert the ticket into one of the numerous parking fee machines found around the terminal building and in the car park, the machine will indicate the parking fee and once you insert the money your ticket is indented to allow you to insert it in the barrier and drive out of the car park. The first fifteen minutes are free in the short stay car park, it costs £1 from fifteen to thirty minutes and then the price goes up by 30p every fifteen minutes.

The metro runs to Newcastle Airport and the station can be found inside the terminal between the two check in halls. Outside the terminal there is a stand for Newcastle Taxis and uniformed drivers meet all inbound flights. It is possible to book the Airport shuttle service that provides convenient, safe and professional transfers to and from your home at a reasonable cost.

Newcastle Airport has changed dramatically over the last few years but there is room for further improvement, the only “no-frills” operator to fly from Newcastle is Go, to turn a good airport into a great airport more must be done to attract a greater number of operators but Newcastle Airport remains the best choice between Manchester and Glasgow.

Useful Telephone Numbers;
Newcastle Airport General Information 0191 286 0966
Air France 0845 0845 111
Braathens 0191 214 0991
British Airways 0845 773 3377
KLM UK 08705 074 074
Airport Freight Manager 0191 214 3218

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