(Image: NCJ Media)
As holidaymakers jet off abroad on summer outings, many in the North East will fly from Newcastle Airport.
But who owns the international travel hub?
Who owns Newcastle Airport?
Newcastle International Airport is jointly owned by seven North East local authorities and a subsidiary of Aena, the Spanish state-owned airport operator, following the completion of a deal earlier this year that brought Europe's largest airport group into the region.
The current ownership structure
The airport's own corporate website states it is run as a public-private partnership between seven local authorities, who hold a 51 per cent shareholding, and infrastructure investor InfraBridge, which holds the remaining 49 per cent.
However, that page has not fully reflected a transaction that completed on May 7, 2026, in which Aena acquired 51 per cent of Augusta Holding Limited, the UK holding company that owns 100 per cent of Leeds Bradford Airport and 49 per cent of Newcastle Airport, with InfraBridge retaining the other 49 per cent of Augusta Holding.
In practice, this means the airport is now controlled through a layered structure: the seven councils, known as LA7, still hold 51 per cent of Newcastle International Airport Limited directly, while the remaining 49 per cent sits within Augusta Holding, which is itself 51 per cent owned by Aena and 49 per cent owned by InfraBridge.
The seven councils that make up LA7 are Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead, North Tyneside, Northumberland, Durham and South Tyneside.
Boardroom now reflects the new ownership
The airport's board has been refreshed to reflect Aena's arrival as a shareholder.
Its executive directors remain chief executive Nick Jones, chief operating officer Richard Knight, chief financial officer Mark Hunt and chief corporate affairs officer Alice Andreasen.
On the non-executive side, the councils are now represented by Paul Mackings of South Tyneside Council, Chris Eynon of Sunderland City Council and Andrew Husband of Durham County Council, while the private shareholders are represented by David Rees and Justin Symonds of InfraBridge and, in a sign of Aena's new stake, Rodrigo Marabini of Aena.
How the deal came together
InfraBridge, a mid-market infrastructure investor formed by DigitalBridge following its 2023 acquisition of AMP Capital's infrastructure business, first appointed JPMorgan in 2024 to explore a sale of its stake.
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InfraBridge had held the 49 per cent stake since October 2012, when its predecessor AMP Capital bought it from Copenhagen Airports in a deal reported to be worth around £150 million.
The eventual buyer, Aena, signed a contract in December 2025 to purchase 51 per cent of the newly formed holding company for £270 million, with the transaction requiring regulatory approvals before it could close.
The deal also covered Leeds Bradford Airport and builds on Aena's existing 51 per cent stake in London Luton Airport, taking the Spanish operator's total UK passenger footprint from 17 million to roughly 26.5 million a year.