Sky was the limit at airport in the 1970s
THIS was the view from the sky of Newcastle Airport on this day 45 years ago. The 1970s had begun with Newcastle becoming the ninth busiest of Britain’s 39 airports with 416,000 passengers.
The arrival of a longer runway and bigger terminal catered for the advent of a new phenomenon - the jet aircraft and the all-inclusive package holiday.
More of us were beginning to choose Spain instead of Scarborough as a holiday destination.
It was a far cry from the original airport which officially opened in July 1935 when Newcastle Aero Club formed in 1925 - moved from Cramlington to the current site in Woolsington.
The first foreign flights - to Stavanger in Norway - came in 1937.
After World War II, and moving into the 1950s, there was a period of rapid development.
The airport acquired a Customs facility and began regular flights to and from the likes of London, Belfast, Amsterdam and Dusseldorf.
Meanwhile, short-haul holiday flights to the Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, and Jersey were becoming popular.
In 1952, John Denyer was appointed as airport “commandant”.
He would later, as managing director, lead Newcastle to become a major player in British aviation. He finally retired in 1989.
The dawn of the 1960s saw annual passenger numbers reach 100,000, and ambitious plans took shape in the form of a longer runway, new terminal, new cargo buildings and improved car parking.
Opening further improved facilities in 1967, Prime Minister Harold Wilson described it as “an air age initiative”.
Famously in 1977, American President Jimmy Carter touched down before enjoying a momentous visit to the region.
In 1980 the airport reached the milestone of one million passengers travelling from Newcastle in a year.
Concorde paid its first visit to
Newcastle on August 28, 1982. (By way of coincidence another superstar, Kevin Keegan, was making his Newcastle United debut just down the road at St James’ Park, on the same day).
Into the next decade, 1991 saw Nexus construct an extension to the Metro system, linking Newcastle International Airport to the city and beyond.
By 1993, passenger figures had hit two million a year. By 2000, that figure was three million.
A major £27m terminal extension to double the size of the check-in hall was officially opened by Prime Minister Tony Blair in October of that year.
The skies turned orange in March 2003 with the arrival of easyJet to Newcastle.
In August 2004, local superstars Ant and Dec opened the latest terminal extension which doubled the size of the departure lounge.
In 2007 the airport secured its first ever scheduled long-haul route with Emirates Airline, flying daily direct from Newcastle to Dubai and opening up onward connections to over 50 destinations.
And May 2015 saw the first ever United Airlines flight from Newcastle to New York.
Newcastle International Airport goes from strength to strength.
Last year 5.3 million passengers passed through, while last month the airport was rated one of the top three in the country by its passengers, according to a survey published by consumer magazine Which?