Newcastle

Newcastle International Airport is located approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) from the city centre on the northern outskirts of the city near Ponteland. The airport handles over five million passengers per year, and is the tenth largest, and the fastest growing regional airport in the UK, [72] expecting to reach 10 million passengers by 2016, and 15 million by 2030. [73] As of 2007, over 90 destinations are available worldwide. [74]

Rail

Train operator National Express East Coast [77] provides a half-hourly frequency of trains to London King's Cross, with a journey time of about three hours. [78]CrossCountry and First TransPennine Express operate regular services to many major destinations, whereas Northern Rail provides local and regional services.

Metro

Road

Major roads in the area include the A1 (Gateshead Newcastle Western Bypass), stretching north to Edinburgh and south to London; the A19 heading south past Sunderland and Middlesbrough to York and Doncaster; the A69 heading west to Carlisle; the A167, the old "Great North Road", heading south to Gateshead, Chester-le-Street, Durham and Darlington; and the A1058 "Coast Road", which runs from Jesmond to the east coast between Tynemouth and Cullercoats. Many of these designations are recent—upon completion of the Western Bypass, and its designation as the new line of the A1, the roads between this and the former line through the Tyne Tunnel were renumbered, with many city centre roads changing from a 6-prefix [86] to their present 1-prefix numbers.

Bus

Cycle

Newcastle is accessible by several mostly traffic-free cycle routes that lead to the edges of the city centre, where cyclists can continue into the city by road, using no car lanes. The traffic-free C2C cycle route runs along the north bank of the River Tyne, enabling cyclists to travel off-road to North Shields and Tynemouth in the east, and westwards towards Hexham.

Suburban cycle routes exist, which utilise converted trackbeds of former industrial wagonways and industrial railways. A network of signed on-road cycle routes is being established, including some designated on-road cycle lanes that will lead from the city centre to the suburbs of Gosforth, Heaton and Wallsend.

Water

Newcastle has access to an international Ferry Terminal, at North Shields, which offers services to destinations including IJmuiden (near Amsterdam). [89] A ferry to Gothenburg, Sweden, operated by Danish DFDS Seaways, ceased crossing at the end of October 2006. The company cited high fuel prices and new competition from low-cost air services as the cause. From summer 2007, Thomson cruise lines includes Newcastle as a port of call on its Norwegian and Fjords cruise.