Connecting the North East to the global economy Graeme Mason Newcastle International Airport Runways UK Tuesday 2 December, 2014

Text A partnership Newcastle is the international gateway airport for the North East A public private partnership between 51% shareholder, LA7, and 49% shareholder, AMP Capital of Australia

Connectivity drives the North East economy 2012 economic impact:- 3,200 employed at the Airport Total of 7,800 in airport supported jobs across the region Regional GVA and journey time savings of £646M 2030 forecast economic impacts:- 4,100 employed at the Airport Total of 10,000 in airport supported jobs across the region Regional GVA and journey time savings of £1.3B

Text Here Bullet New services can have a game-changing impact Trade between the North East and Australasia has grown from £150M in 2007 to over £360M The value of flown exports out of Newcastle has grown from £20M in 2006 to £250M in 2013

A direct United Airlines service to New York from 2015

Regional connectivity The Emirates and United services, although long haul, are hub connections. They complement our services via other closer hubs, including Amsterdam, Paris, Dublin, Brussels, Copenhagen, and Heathrow. Heathrow is by a significant margin the largest hub serving the North East and a number of other regions. Regional airports such as Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Newcastle can play an increasing role, but they are not an alternative to South East hub capacity.

South East Capacity We support the provision of additional runway capacity in the South East and welcome the work undertaken by the Airports Commission. We strongly support the retention of a world class hub in the UK and believe Heathrow is the best and most viable option. The Airports Commission has estimated that the economic benefit to the UK of a new runway at Heathrow is significantly higher than for one at Gatwick. The UK outside of London and the South East would receive more than twice the economic benefit by expanding Heathrow as by expanding Gatwick. We encourage all political parties to quickly act on the Airports Commission recommendations.

Delivery of regional benefit We welcome the work being undertaken by Lord Shipley on regional connectivity, which will conclude in January The issue of future airport charges is a concern and we will continue to press for measures to limit the costs for key regional operations into Heathrow. We have raised the possibility of planning conditions to safeguard part of additional runway capacity for key regional services.

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