Major Ryanair investment announced for Newcastle Airport: new aircraft, routes & more
A multimillion pound investment has taken off from Newcastle Airport with a new aircraft, routes and job creation.
Low fare airline Ryanair has announced it’s adding a third aircraft to its Newcastle Airport operation, with a third Boeing 737 8-200 joining the fleet from November in time for the winter 25 / 26 season.
Showing the increase in demand for flights from Newcastle Airport, the investment is worth £220m in total.
This summer, the airport published its new Masterplan for consultation, outlining its 15-year vision to strengthen its role as a vital gateway connecting the North East to the world, while continuing to drive growth, investment, employment and inbound tourism in the region.
To support growth plans, work will begin on a three-storey extension to its terminal this year, creating additional space for food and beverage outlets and more seating in the departure lounge.
What today’s Ryanair announcement means:
*The aircraft will deliver 120,000 (+36%) additional seats at Newcastle this winter where Ryanair now expects to carry more than 1m annual passengers across its three Tyneside aircraft.
*With the new aircraft comes five new winter routes: Brussels (the only airline to offer this route from Newcastle), Budapest, Gdańsk, Malta, and Wrocław, taking Ryanair’s routes to 17
*Extra flights to its existing routes to Alicante, Dublin, and Kraków.
*The investment supports more than 850 local jobs, including 30 new pilot and cabin crew, with recruitment live.
* A 2-day seat sale to go with the announcement with fares from £29.99 available only at Ryanair.com.
Vital for UK airports to remain competitive
Ryanair’s CCO Jason McGuinness was on Tyneside to announce the investment and commended Newcastle Airport for ‘remaining competitive’ in light of increases to air passenger duty (APD) tax from April next year.
He said: “This Winter Ryanair will operate a record schedule at Newcastle that will deliver more than 1m annual passengers thanks to the hard work of Newcastle Airport to remain competitive despite Labour’s reckless decision to increase the regressive APD tax.
“As an island economy on the periphery of Europe, it is vital that UK airports particularly in the regions offer competitive access costs to airlines. The excessive UK APD tax imposes £13 on all UK citizens/visitors, making air travel from the UK uncompetitive, particularly when other European countries, like Sweden, Hungary, and Italy, are lowering costs and cutting taxes to encourage rapid traffic and tourism growth.
“Conversely the UK Govt. has decided to further increase this tax by +£2 (+15%) from April ’26 costing UK regions jobs, tourism and economic growth. Ryanair calls on Rachel Reeves to scrap this penal tax and allow UK connectivity, employment and tourism to flourish.
“If the UK Govt. abolishes APD Ryanair will respond with its ambitious growth plan for the UK to increase annual traffic by 27m (+50% to 80m pax p.a), base +30 additional aircraft (US$3bn investment), launch 200 routes (800 total) and create 20,000 jobs.”
Demand for European travel
Representatives from the airport say the investment will help to meet the growing demand for North East passengers wanting to travel to European cities.
Newcastle Airport’s Chief Operating Officer, Richard Knight, said: “It’s fantastic news that Ryanair have committed to further investment in the region with the addition of a third based aircraft at Newcastle Airport, bringing with it five exciting new Winter routes to Brussels, Budapest, Malta, Wroclaw and Gdansk for our passengers to enjoy.
“This expansion will deliver over 1 million passengers for Ryanair over the next 12 months, reflecting the strength of our partnership and the growing demand for connectivity from the North East to key European destinations.
“Brussels is a brand new connection for the Airport’s departure board and will provide great connectivity for both leisure and business passengers to the capital of Belgium.
“The addition of more winter flights to Budapest, Gdansk, Malta and Wroclaw will provide additional flight options for passengers looking to explore these popular destinations from the region.”