United Airlines to launch direct flights between Newcastle and New York – so no need to travel via London
United Airlines will introduce direct flights between Newcastle and Newark airport, New York. There will be 5 per week, from May to September 2015. This will be Newcastle’s first scheduled non-stop trans-Atlantic service. The flights will use a Boeing 757-200 aircraft with a total of 169 seats, 16 flat-bed seats in United BusinessFirst and 153 in United Economy, including 45 Economy Plus seats with added extra space. The airport’s MD said this would offer the people of Northeast England “easy, convenient travel options not only to New York City but also to destinations throughout the Americas.” Presumably it will largely be used for people from the UK taking leisure trips to the USA, but the publicity is that it will also enhance “regional connectivity, growing the regional economy, attracting inward investment and encouraging inbound tourism from North America.” So this is one more route that enables people in the north of England to travel, without having to use Heathrow or a southern airport. One one bit of confirmation that a new south east runway is unnecessary. The list of direct long haul flights from regional airports is growing.
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United Airlines to launch non-stop service between Newcastle and New York
By Jamie Hardesty
27 Oct 2014 (Business Daily)
United Airlines will introduce non stop flights between Newcastle and its New York hub, Newark Liberty International Airport, during the period May 23 to Sep. 7, 2015 (both dates westbound), subject to government approval.
The frequency of the service will be five times weekly. It will be Newcastle’s first scheduled nonstop transAtlantic service.
Flight UA159 will depart Newcastle daily except Wednesday and Thursday at 9:10 a.m., arriving at New York/Newark at 12:00 p.m. the same day.
The return flight, UA160, will depart New York/Newark daily except Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:20 p.m., arriving in Newcastle at 7:30 a.m. the following day (all times local).
Flight times will be seven hours 50 minutes westbound and seven hours 10 minutes eastbound.
The flights will be operated by Boeing 757-200 aircraft with a total of 169 seats, 16 flat-bed seats in United BusinessFirst and 153 in United Economy, including 45 Economy Plus seats with added legroom and increased personal space.
United’s managing director of U.K. & Ireland sales, Bob Schumacher, said: “We’re very excited about introducing nonstop flights to New York from Newcastle next summer.”
“We’ll be offering the people of Northeast England easy, convenient travel options not only to New York City but also to destinations throughout the Americas.
“United already offers trans-Atlantic service from more cities in the U.K. than any other airline and we’ve every reason to be confident that this new service will be a success.”
Chief Executive of Newcastle Airport, David Laws, said: “For many years, and everywhere I go, people have been stopping me and asking, when is the North East going to get a New York service?
“I have been clear throughout that this is a route that we have been determined to deliver for the region.
“We have been carefully and quietly working behind the scenes, with our shareholders, to secure what will be another game-changing new route.
“I am delighted today that we are finally able to make the announcement everyone has been hoping for. United Airlines is the best airline to operate this service.
“They have an exceptional track record of linking U.K. regions to their New York/Newark hub, where customers can then connect to over one hundred onward destinations.”
Leader of South Tyneside Council and lead of the LA7 shareholders, Councillor Iain Malcolm, said: “On behalf of the Local Authority shareholders, I am delighted that the collective efforts we have been making have been successful.
“This new service will be hugely significant, in terms of further enhancing regional connectivity, growing the regional economy, attracting inward investment and encouraging inbound tourism from North America.
“The Local Authorities and our partner organisations will work hard to make the route a success.
“We will work with inbound tourism bodies to promote the region to a new audience and we will work with the business community to increase awareness of the connectivity opened up.”
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See also:
Emirates considers direct flights to the USA from UK northern airports, not Heathrow
July 26, 2013
Dubai’s Emirates Airline is interested in getting into the competitive transatlantic market, and offer flights from Dubai to the US via the UK. This market is currently dominated by BA, Virgin Atlantic, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. Emirates will need to get regulatory approval first. Emirates believes there is strong unmet demand for flights from the north of England to the USA and last year carried 800,000 passengers on its routes in and out of its hubs in the north of England: Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester and Birmingham. There are growing numbers of Emirates passengers and services from these northern UK airports. In October, Emirates will launch flights from Dubai to New York via Milan. Their UK vice president said they are asking the Airports Commission to look at making all the regional airports completely open skies, so anyone can fly anywhere. If they use the northern airports, there is less pressure on the south east airports, and less rationale for building another runway. “Heathrow sits in the south of England, but Manchester has a bigger catchment area in terms of a two-hour drive.” If Emirates goes through with the plan BA and Virgin will be the big losers.
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Airlines like Emirates keen to fly from regional airports (like Newcastle) – reducing future demand at Heathrow and Gatwick
March 25, 2013
Heathrow Airport has been saying recently that, though it is desperate to get a third runway, even they realise that there is not the demand for a 4th runway. The DfT has consistently over-estimated the amount of passenger demand over the last decade. In reality, passengers from parts of the UK other than the south east can get long haul flights from regional airports. The UK Vice President of Emirates says he wants to expand flights from UK’s regional airports, rather than Heathrow or Gatwick, and has a direct flight from Newcastle to Dubai, for transfers on from there. With that happening more and more in future, the south east airports’ dreams for expansion in the south east, requiring a massive hub airport, look less and less probable. Forecasts more than a few years ahead are based on so many uncertainties and unknowns as to be almost without value. Making best use of existing airports is more efficient than grandiose new infrastructure projects which run the risk of being white elephants. Had a second Stansted runway been built by 2012, it would now be standing idle.
Click here to view full story…
More flights from Manchester to USA taking pressure off south east airports
Flights by American Airlines have started from Manchester to Charlotte in North Carolina, and will run every day until the end of September. Airport and airline bosses heralded the flight as a boost for both the airport and Manchester. The airline says “Manchester has been a hugely important city for American Airlines for many years and we are thrilled to add this flight to Charlotte…. It will bring in around 200 passengers every day…..Next year, we hope to run them for longer. In terms of American Airlines, we have a massive presence in the US and Charlotte is our second biggest hub. ….This is putting Manchester in line with our other destinations like Madrid and Rome.” American Airlines already flies from Manchester to Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. The airline CEO said most passengers are expected to originate from America – looking to fly into the north of England.”The biggest growth in airlines is down to people visiting friends and family, and Manchester has a catchment area of 22m.” More international flights from the regional airports mean less pressure to expand airports in the south east. Or to build a new south east runway. Manchester’s 2nd runway is hardly used.
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Prices of long-haul flights from Scottish airports slashed as Middle East airlines compete – cheaper than going via Heathrow
Air passengers from Scotland, travelling to the Middle East and Australia are benefitting from a price war between the major airlines. Emirates and Qatar Airways are bitter rivals, founded less than 10 years apart in 1985 and 1993 respectively, and then the arrival of Etihad in 2003 put both under pressure. Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad now compete for long haul passengers from Scottish airports, to Dubai, Thailand and Australia. The price of a ticked on Etihad from Edinburgh to Sydney for next summer is about £790, cheaper than the cost of an Etihad flight from Heathrow. Emirates has slashed its return fare from Glasgow to a low of £771 for the same dates. The same flight with Qatar Airways comes in at £995 return. Industry experts predict fierce competition between the 3 carriers, undercutting each other. Due to the 3 Middle East airlines competing, fares to Australia are cheaper from Scotland than from Heathrow or Amsterdam. So one less reason to need to expand Heathrow, or worry about losing traffic to Schiphol.
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Birmingham delighted to get daily flight to India, largely for tourism and VFR
Birmingham airport’s is encouraged by a decision by Air India to increase the number of flights between Birmingham, Delhi and Amritsa from 4 per week to 7 per week. This will start from November, when its 18th Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft is inducted into service. Birmingham has now had direct flights to India for one year, after having none for 5 years. Though some passengers are on business, the majority are tourists and people visiting friends and relatives in India. Having three more flights per week will mean an extra 1,500 seats a week, as the Air India Dreamliners have 256 seats (256 x 3 x 2 = 1,5360. Paul Kehoe, Birmingham Airport’s Chief Executive, said “The West Midlands receives more foreign direct investment from India than any other region outside of London and Birmingham’s VFR (visiting friends and family) market grew by 71% in 2013, now attracting more visitors from India than any English city other than London.” The runway extension, that opened in April, is enabling more flights to longer haul destinations. The flight path trials, due to the runway extension, are causing real concern and distress to those south of the airport, now finding themselves seriously overflown.
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