The New Arrival Takes Off
In December, Newcastle International Airport scrapped its free drop‑off and pick‑up parking outside the terminal. At the same time, it introduced a new Waiting Zone at Callerton Parkway, just over a mile from the terminal building. The Waiting Zone offers 90 minutes of free parking and features a new 12‑bay ultra‑rapid EV charging station, with planning permission already in place for a drive‑thru coffee shop to be added later in the year.
From the 6 January, the airport launched a 30‑minute shuttle service linking the Waiting Zone with the terminal, operated by Park & Fly. To run the new service, a new arrival has joined the fleet. YY75 DXC which is an Alexander Dennis E10V/Alexander Dennis E100EV, notably the first example of its type in the North East. She is seen resting in the long‑term parking area on the morning of 10/01/26.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rpbsp/55034252579/
(10 Jan 2026, 9:01 pm)Ray wrote [ -> ]The New Arrival Takes Off
In December, Newcastle International Airport scrapped its free drop‑off and pick‑up parking outside the terminal. At the same time, it introduced a new Waiting Zone at Callerton Parkway, just over a mile from the terminal building. The Waiting Zone offers 90 minutes of free parking and features a new 12‑bay ultra‑rapid EV charging station, with planning permission already in place for a drive‑thru coffee shop to be added later in the year.
From the 6 January, the airport launched a 30‑minute shuttle service linking the Waiting Zone with the terminal, operated by Park & Fly. To run the new service, a new arrival has joined the fleet. YY75 DXC which is an Alexander Dennis E10V/Alexander Dennis E100EV, notably the first example of its type in the North East. She is seen resting in the long‑term parking area on the morning of 10/01/26.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rpbsp/55034252579/
Driver I spoke today said that since the service launch and without any promotion passenger numbers have fluctuated with the quietest day seeing on 20 passengers to the busiest seeing 60 but there was plans for signs etc to go up in the forthcoming weeks.
This afternoon in a 2 hour period I was the only person to use the service between Callerton Parkway and Newcastle Airport with the other runs in between carrying fresh air, there were several cars using the charging bays and were purely there for that reason only.
(13 Jan 2026, 8:05 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]Driver I spoke today said that since the service launch and without any promotion passenger numbers have fluctuated with the quietest day seeing on 20 passengers to the busiest seeing 60 but there was plans for signs etc to go up in the forthcoming weeks.
This afternoon in a 2 hour period I was the only person to use the service between Callerton Parkway and Newcastle Airport with the other runs in between carrying fresh air, there were several cars using the charging bays and were purely there for that reason only.
The service is completely insane if you ask me.
There's a Metro station 50 yds away with a service every 12 minutes during the day. Surely some form of ticket acceptance there would be more worthwhile than an infrequent bus service...
The 787 could be redirected that way for when the Metro isn't running.
(13 Jan 2026, 8:12 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]The service is completely insane if you ask me.
There's a Metro station 50 yds away with a service every 12 minutes during the day. Surely some form of ticket acceptance there would be more worthwhile than an infrequent bus service...
The 787 could be redirected that way for when the Metro isn't running.
The whole point is it’s meant to be a free drop off & pick up. It’s no longer free when you have to buy a ticket on the Metro.
(14 Jan 2026, 5:35 am)tyresmoke wrote [ -> ]The whole point is it’s meant to be a free drop off & pick up. It’s no longer free when you have to buy a ticket on the Metro.
Just make some form of ticket free zone between the two stations? It exists in London around Heathrow.
Can't see why it couldn't be done there, it's not like there's anything at Callerton Parkway which means there'd be massively lost revenue for the Metro it's in the middle of nowhere.
Sorry wasn't too clear in the original post it's what I meant about ticket acceptance.
(14 Jan 2026, 7:50 am)Storx wrote [ -> ]Just make some form of ticket free zone between the two stations? It exists in London around Heathrow.
Can't see why it couldn't be done there, it's not like there's anything at Callerton Parkway which means there'd be massively lost revenue for the Metro it's in the middle of nowhere.
Sorry wasn't too clear in the original post it's what I meant about ticket acceptance.
Why would nexus do that. It costs £4 to get to the airport from Bank Foot. Callerton Parkway is either £3 or £4 cause the airport is its own zone (ZoneC)
If they make it free then nexus would lose money and which I dont think they want to.
Why do you think we dont have a bus service that runs from Newcastle to the Airport. Cause the metro is there and nexus probably wouldn't want a bus service to compete. Yes you have the X78 which runs all day but let's be real..if your travelling to the airport to get on a flight. Your not gonna get the bus that stops outside airport grounds to walk all the way to the main terminal when the metro drops you off right inside the terminal
(14 Jan 2026, 9:46 am)Nerd4321 wrote [ -> ]Why would nexus do that. It costs £4 to get to the airport from Bank Foot. Callerton Parkway is either £3 or £4 cause the airport is its own zone (ZoneC)
If they make it free then nexus would lose money and which I dont think they want to.
Why do you think we dont have a bus service that runs from Newcastle to the Airport. Cause the metro is there and nexus probably wouldn't want a bus service to compete. Yes you have the X78 which runs all day but let's be real..if your travelling to the airport to get on a flight. Your not gonna get the bus that stops outside airport grounds to walk all the way to the main terminal when the metro drops you off right inside the terminal
Nexus wouldn't lose out as the money which is been pissed away on the bus and driver would be given to Nexus to fund the Metro free zone instead. Don't expect them to get that for nothing as that wouldn't be fair.
I can't imagine there's much traffic between Callerton Parkway and the Airport there's literally nothing there as it's a P&R station towards Newcastle.
Everything else would stay the same.
The real answer is the airport want the bus to fail so they can £££ in on the ridiculous price of the drop off point though. Let's not kid ourselves here.
(14 Jan 2026, 10:21 am)Storx wrote [ -> ]Nexus wouldn't lose out as the money which is been pissed away on the bus and driver would be given to Nexus to fund the Metro free zone instead. Don't expect them to get that for nothing as that wouldn't be fair.
I can't imagine there's much traffic between Callerton Parkway and the Airport there's literally nothing there as it's a P&R station towards Newcastle.
Everything else would stay the same.
The real answer is the airport want the bus to fail so they can £££ in on the ridiculous price of the drop off point though. Let's not kid ourselves here.
Is there anything in the North East you dont winge about. Its a free park and ride site. Doesn't really affect you if you dont use it. Airport got this going and so what. Its a free shuttle. Its doing no harm to anyone but yeah let's winge about something thats free and think yeah how can I benefit about talking about this.
Your complaining about a "FREE PARK AND RIDE SHUTTLE TO AND FROM A SHORT STAY CAR PARK AT THE AIRPORT" does not affect you in any sort of way whatsoever
(14 Jan 2026, 11:38 am)Nerd4321 wrote [ -> ]Is there anything in the North East you dont winge about. Its a free park and ride site. Doesn't really affect you if you dont use it. Airport got this going and so what. Its a free shuttle. Its doing no harm to anyone but yeah let's winge about something thats free and think yeah how can I benefit about talking about this.
Your complaining about a "FREE PARK AND RIDE SHUTTLE TO AND FROM A SHORT STAY CAR PARK AT THE AIRPORT" does not affect you in any sort of way whatsoever
Interesting discussion on the subject in hand.
Also for the record it replaced an existing car park which was within walking distance from the terminal so there's absolutely nothing positive about this. Something I've used in the past so it does affect me.
A 30 minute bus service is not a like to like or remotely close replacement. A 12 minute Metro service is a reasonable compromise though.
(14 Jan 2026, 1:50 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Interesting discussion on the subject in hand.
Also for the record it replaced an existing car park which was within walking distance from the terminal so there's absolutely nothing positive about this. Something I've used in the past so it does affect me.
A 30 minute bus service is not a like to like or remotely close replacement. A 12 minute Metro service is a reasonable compromise though.
From what the driver said to me they dropped the service due to congestion around the short stay pick up/drop off as they've found within the last 12 months that people are happily paying the £3.50 fee to go in/out within 15-20 minutes or whatever it is than than pay for long stay parking using the now dropped bus service or walking a distance to there car.
They brought in the revised service in an attempt to alleviate congestion by offering a Free P&R at Callerton Parkway which has not at all been promoted, at the moment probably not a big worry for them as the Airport is in it's quiet period however they're are worried about what will happen in the summer months.
(14 Jan 2026, 2:41 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]From what the driver said to me they dropped the service due to congestion around the short stay pick up/drop off as they've found within the last 12 months that people are happily paying the £3.50 fee to go in/out within 15-20 minutes or whatever it is than than pay for long stay parking using the now dropped bus service or walking a distance to there car.
They brought in the revised service in an attempt to alleviate congestion by offering a Free P&R at Callerton Parkway which has not at all been promoted, at the moment probably not a big worry for them as the Airport is in it's quiet period however they're are worried about what will happen in the summer months.
Aye not surprised, guessing it's the other way though, people avoiding the £5 express rather than the longer stays though?
Yeah, like don't get me wrong the P&R is a good idea imo, get people away from the terminal and help traffic etc and also give a place for taxis to park while waiting for their fare instead of parking everywhere like now - which is a massive problem.
Just not sure a 30 minute bus service is enough; like personally if I've just been on a trek through security etc the last thing I want is to have to wait potentially 30 minutes because I just missed the bus. It's a long time really. Obviously if it's more frequent then someone has pay for the bus, so get why it's that infrequent aswell.
(14 Jan 2026, 3:06 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Aye not surprised, guessing it's the other way though, people avoiding the £5 express rather than the longer stays though?
Yeah, like don't get me wrong the P&R is a good idea imo, get people away from the terminal and help traffic etc and also give a place for taxis to park while waiting for their fare instead of parking everywhere like now - which is a massive problem.
Just not sure a 30 minute bus service is enough; like personally if I've just been on a trek through security etc the last thing I want is to have to wait potentially 30 minutes because I just missed the bus. It's a long time really. Obviously if it's more frequent then someone has pay for the bus, so get why it's that infrequent aswell.
It's an 8 minute journey in each direction from Airport to Callerton Parkway and the driver gets 8-10 minutes layover at each end on each run, you could easily push a frequency of Every 20 Minutes and still use 1 Bus + 1 Driver.
The route they're taking is via Callerton Lane and A696 between the two sites, I think they should've potentially of went along Ponteland Road and served Newcastle Aviation Academy, NPAS Newcastle, Europcar Compound, Wheatsheaf Farm (Premier Inn) and Callerton Parkway in clockwise loop and still maintain the current frequency to bring more punters into using the service.
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(14 Jan 2026, 3:50 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]It's an 8 minute journey in each direction from Airport to Callerton Parkway and the driver gets 8-10 minutes layover at each end on each run, you could easily push a frequency of Every 20 Minutes and still use 1 Bus + 1 Driver.
The route they're taking is via Callerton Lane and A696 between the two sites, I think they should've potentially of went along Ponteland Road and served Newcastle Aviation Academy, NPAS Newcastle, Europcar Compound, Wheatsheaf Farm (Premier Inn) and Callerton Parkway in clockwise loop and still maintain the current frequency to bring more punters into using the service.
Aye not the worst shout that, must admit I was wondering what route they took; be interesting going along the secret staff road that not many people know about.
Must admit, if we're keeping buses - still think the Metro would be better, I'd be tempted to be radical and up it to every 10 minutes but at the same time increase the express parking to £8.
Give people a choice, pay up or jump on a bus for 5 minutes, which is turn up and go, which if you're using a taxi anyway - by the time you stand around waiting for the taxi to turn from the P&R car park you could've jumped on the bus anyway and saved money.
The lazy people who pay the £8 can fund the extra bus. I'd personally happily jump on that bus. Having a free parking option 5 minutes walk away was a bit silly really, I can get why they got arid of that.
(14 Jan 2026, 4:21 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Aye not the worst shout that, must admit I was wondering what route they took; be interesting going along the secret staff road that not many people know about.
Must admit, if we're keeping buses - still think the Metro would be better, I'd be tempted to be radical and up it to every 10 minutes but at the same time increase the express parking to £8.
Give people a choice, pay up or jump on a bus for 5 minutes, which is turn up and go, which if you're using a taxi anyway - by the time you stand around waiting for the taxi to turn from the P&R car park you could've jumped on the bus anyway and saved money.
The lazy people who pay the £8 can fund the extra bus. I'd personally happily jump on that bus. Having a free parking option 5 minutes walk away was a bit silly really, I can get why they got arid of that.
We should operate the same way Edinburgh Trams to where for example a single is £2.20 from Princess Street to Ingliston P&R however if you state on the farefinder questions you're going to the Airport your then charged £7.90, so you're essentially paying a £5.70 levy to travel the additional stops required. I think we should introduce something similar on the Tyne & Wear Metro which would give people a choice as you have stated above.
I have also said for a long time we should have an Airport Bus to/from Newcastle City Centre (Berwick Street) to give people an alternative option or under Northern Powerhouse Rail have National Rail Services run up to the Airport as they did many years ago, people will use them if the options are there.
I don't get the point of the Arriva 777 (Morpeth - Kingston Park), why terminate at Kingston Park when you can go all the way into Haymarket and interwork with existing services as it does with the X16 at Morpeth, you could actually merge the X47/777 into one service for when bus come back into public control.
The 787 from Stagecoach is another one, why is there demand for a during the night service but not at all during the day, literally makes no sense to me.
(14 Jan 2026, 5:08 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]We should operate the same way Edinburgh Trams to where for example a single is £2.20 from Princess Street to Ingliston P&R however if you state on the farefinder questions you're going to the Airport your then charged £7.90, so you're essentially paying a £5.70 levy to travel the additional stops required. I think we should introduce something similar on the Tyne & Wear Metro which would give people a choice as you have stated above.
I have also said for a long time we should have an Airport Bus to/from Newcastle City Centre (Berwick Street) to give people an alternative option or under Northern Powerhouse Rail have National Rail Services run up to the Airport as they did many years ago, people will use them if the options are there.
I don't get the point of the Arriva 777 (Morpeth - Kingston Park), why terminate at Kingston Park when you can go all the way into Haymarket and interwork with existing services as it does with the X16 at Morpeth, you could actually merge the X47/777 into one service for when bus come back into public control.
The 787 from Stagecoach is another one, why is there demand for a during the night service but not at all during the day, literally makes no sense to me.
Not sure I'd be conviced on punishing people on using the Metro to the airport, seems counter productive to me in terms of getting cars off the road making it more expensive.
I do think there should be better links to the airport locally though; the 787 in particular being one, better if it could somehow serve Kingston Park aswell for shoppers.
Bit mental that unless you live on the Metro and or Ponteland Road you have to double back via Newcastle to get to work and I'd assume there's a fair few in that neck of the woods.
Cramlington and Blyth is a bit problematic area aswell, since the withdrawal of the 101 and it's a close employement site aswell really.
(14 Jan 2026, 9:46 am)Nerd4321 wrote [ -> ]Why would nexus do that. It costs £4 to get to the airport from Bank Foot. Callerton Parkway is either £3 or £4 cause the airport is its own zone (ZoneC)
If they make it free then nexus would lose money and which I dont think they want to.
Why do you think we dont have a bus service that runs from Newcastle to the Airport. Cause the metro is there and nexus probably wouldn't want a bus service to compete. Yes you have the X78 which runs all day but let's be real..if your travelling to the airport to get on a flight. Your not gonna get the bus that stops outside airport grounds to walk all the way to the main terminal when the metro drops you off right inside the terminal
I tend to do the bus if I can after my flights.
A) I'm tight
B) there's more chance of the bus being on time than the Metro at the moment.
(14 Jan 2026, 5:35 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Not sure I'd be conviced on punishing people on using the Metro to the airport, seems counter productive to me in terms of getting cars off the road making it more expensive.
I do think there should be better links to the airport locally though; the 787 in particular being one, better if it could somehow serve Kingston Park aswell for shoppers.
Bit mental that unless you live on the Metro and or Ponteland Road you have to double back via Newcastle to get to work and I'd assume there's a fair few in that neck of the woods.
Cramlington and Blyth is a bit problematic area aswell, since the withdrawal of the 101 and it's a close employement site aswell really.
You could do a Metro Extension between Bank Foot and Callerton Parkway to connect to Cramlington with new stops at Sandy Lane for Brunswick Village and Dinnington and one at Seaton Burn and then have the line run parallel to the A19 connecting to the line at Dudley.
(14 Jan 2026, 5:35 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Cramlington and Blyth is a bit problematic area aswell, since the withdrawal of the 101 and it's a close employement site aswell really.
Think this would be a very easy one to fix. Send the current 777 north from Kingston Park through Great Park, Wideopen, Dudley, and terminate it at Cramlington shops. You could easily get that done with just one extra bus into the cycle.
Given the amount of ways in and out of Blyth, I think it would be best to let folk connect onto the airport service at Cramlington from one of the 4 express buses.
(14 Jan 2026, 6:42 pm)PH - BQA wrote [ -> ]Think this would be a very easy one to fix. Send the current 777 north from Kingston Park through Great Park, Wideopen, Dudley, and terminate it at Cramlington shops. You could easily get that done with just one extra bus into the cycle.
Given the amount of ways in and out of Blyth, I think it would be best to let folk connect onto the airport service at Cramlington from one of the 4 express buses.
Yeah agreed, only little change I'd make is maybe swap it between Wideopen and Cramlington to go via Beacon Hill instead of Dudley as it's duplicating the 43/342 otherwise and you might always get the odd punter who uses it to work in the industrial estates.
Even better if you can get it through to the hospital as it's another place someone might use it for. Just give it the best chance it can get etc.