Ryanair passengers flying from Newcastle Airport face a tighter check-in deadline from today, with bag drop closing 60 minutes before scheduled departure instead of the previous 40 minutes. The change, announced by the airline earlier this year, is designed to give travellers more time to clear airport security and passport queues.
Bag Drop Deadline Extended
Newcastle Airport posted the message on its social media channels, stating: "Flying with Ryanair soon? From Tuesday 10 November, bag drop will close 60 minutes before departure, instead of the current 40 minutes. Please make sure you arrive at your airport with plenty of time to check in and drop off any bags before your flight."
Ryanair explained the adjustment was made to provide more time for passengers to get through airport security and passport queues, which it said "will reduce the very small number of passengers who currently miss their flight departure as they are getting stuck in these airport queues".
Self-Service Kiosks Rollout
The change coincides with the airline installing more self-service bag-drop kiosks across its network. These kiosks are fully integrated with the Ryanair app, allowing passengers to check in bags and print bag tags to speed up the process and cut waiting times.
Ryanair CMO Dara Brady said: "From Tues 10 Nov next, Ryanair customers will see airport check-in and bag drops close 60 minutes before scheduled departure, instead of today’s 40 minutes. This will allow these 20% of our customers (who check in a bag) more time to clear through airport security and passport queues, and get to their departure gate on-time, especially during busy travel periods when some of these airport queues can be longer."
He added: "We are also installing self-service kiosks at over 95% of Ryanair airports before October. This means a quicker bag-drop service, less queuing at airport desks, and an even more punctual service for the 20% of our customers who still wish to check-in a bag, while the 80% (who don’t check-in a bag) will be unaffected by this small 20 minute change, as they will continue to check-in online before they arrive at the departure airport and they go straight through airport security to their departure gate."
New Newcastle Routes
Last month, Ryanair unveiled two new routes from Newcastle Airport for summer 2027, offering services to Reus in Spain and the Greek island of Rhodes. Both routes are available to book now through the Ryanair app and website, and are part of the airline's first batch of 29 new routes for summer 2027, taking its network to more than 2,500 routes across 230 destinations.
