See inside Newcastle’s lovely new Aspire, Luxe by Aspire and Suite by Aspire lounges

Earlier this month I was invited to Newcastle Airport for the official launch of THREE new Aspire lounges at the airport.

The abandoned British Airways space has been combined with the old Aspire lounge to create something new – the first three-tier independent airport lounge in the UK, and perhaps anywhere.

Let’s take a look.

All of the photographs here are official pictures. The main Aspire lounge was fully operational (emphasis on the ‘full’) when we were there. Whilst the two premium spaces were closed for the event, there were so many invitees that it was busier than it will be on a normal day!

What are the three lounges at Newcastle Airport?

The entire Aspire complex is 1,135 square metres and the combined total capacity is 329 passengers.

It is a three tier system. At the top end is Suite by Aspire, with waiter-served food. The only airline using this space is Emirates which has a daily flight at 2.15pm. It costs £60 to book for cash or – and I think this is decent value – £22 to upgrade a Priority Pass visit. Children cannot use Suite by Aspire unless they are ticketed Emirates premium passengers.

The middle tier is Luxe by Aspire. This has been contracted to British Airways, KLM and Air France. It cannot be booked outright for cash but you can pay £15 to upgrade a Priority Pass visit. Children cannot use Luxe by Aspire unless they are ticketed premium cabin or status passengers.

The main lounge is simply branded Aspire. This is for Priority Pass customers. A dedicated corner of 47 seats will be allocated at certain times to Tui for passengers in its 47-seat Premium cabin. This costs £44 (yes, £44) to book for cash.

All three lounges open at 4am and close between 6pm and 9pm depending on the day of the week and time of year.

Some random facts from my trip ….

• The average ‘dwell time’ at Aspire lounges in the UK is 1 hour and 53 minutes. Experience shows that a refurbished or otherwise ‘improved’ lounge will see a 20 minute increase in dwell time – people arrive earlier when they know there is a decent lounge.

• 25% of Aspire lounge users in the UK are flying with Ryanair

• 68% of Aspire lounge users in the UK only use a lounge on departure, not on the return (Aspire sees this as an opportunity although it does not fully understand why it happens)

• The demographic of users skews towards the older – younger people are, for cost or other reasons, less interested in paying for an airport lounge

• Aspire is looking at ways of allowing lounge users to purchase duty free via a tablet and have it delivered to them at their seat

The Aspire lounge at Newcastle Airport

The two photos above are of the main lounge and here are three more:

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The food island (visible in the second picture down from the top) is, apparently, the largest in the entire Aspire UK estate. There is no shortage of food here. Aspire is trialling the use of staff headsets, allowing the kitchen to be told quickly when items need replacing.

‘Paid to order’ premium food and drink is available

Because Aspire needs to run a full kitchen to supply Luxe and Suite, it is able to offer a wide ‘pay to order’ menu on top of the buffet.

£8 will get you a freshly cooked bacon cheeseburger, a chicken burger or a vegan burger, all served with sweet potato fries. Alternatively you can have a margherita, pepperoni or gluten-free pepperoni 12 inch pizza for the same price. £7 gets you some chicken bits or chicken popcorn with sweet potato fries.

£2 gets you a premium drink, eg Hendricks or Bombay Sapphire gin, Grey Goose vodka, 12yr Glenfiddich whisky, Disaronno or Baileys. There is also a selection of premium beers for £3.

£5 gets you a cocktail such as a peach bellini, aperol spritz or old fashioned.

Prosecco is £6 per glass or £19 per bottle. Champagne (the brand wasn’t stated) is £55 per bottle.

The ‘Luxe by Aspire’ lounge at Newcastle Airport

Luxe is where you will head if you are flying British Airways in business class, have British Airways Silver or Gold status or are connecting to a British Airways Club World or First flight.

You cannot pay cash to enter this lounge although you can upgrade a Priority Pass visit for £15.

Luxe has more relaxed seating and a higher quality of self-serve drinks. Sparkling wine is included although you will pay for champagne (I think). You also have airfield views and access to a dedicated Luxe / Suite set of toilets.

Spirits on display for self-pour included Bacardi, Gordons, Hennessy VS, Malibu, Grey Goose, Whitley Neill Gin (rhubard and ginger flavour!), Jack Daniel’s, Baileys, Lambs, Captain Morgan, Bombay Sapphire, Hendricks, Famous Grouse and Disaronno.

Here are some images:

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The ‘Suite by Aspire’ lounge at Newcastle Airport

Suite by Aspire is the top-tier product, currently only available to premium cabin and elite status passengers flying with Emirates.

Priority Pass holders can upgrade for £22 and non-Priority Pass holders can buy access for £60. The Emirates flight departs at 2.15pm so I suspect it will be at its busiest between 11.30am and 1.30pm. Looking at the Aspire website, cash bookings are not allowed at this time anyway.

Suite is effectively a separate area within the Luxe / Suite part of the lounge, albeit blocked off from Luxe via the furnishings. This area has the best views of the airfield as you can see.

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The key selling point here is table service food and drink which is rarely seen in UK airport lounges, even airline ones. That said, it’s not ‘fine dining’.

The lunch and dinner menu had three sections:

• ‘light bites’ (ham hock terrine, avocado salad, ceasar salad, club sandwich)

• mains (bacon cheeseburger, chicken burger, miso ramen, chicken singapore noodles, pizza, cottage pie, sweet potato and chickpea curry)

• desserts (ice cream, sticky toffee pudding, Eton mess cheesecake, chocolate orange torte and a cheese board).

Additional ‘nibbles’ are also available – freshly baked cookies, popcorn, charcuterie, mini savoury tartlets and mini gourmandises.

You can, of course, also help yourself from the buffet in the Luxe area.

I didn’t see a breakfast menu but the website says:

Suite guests can choose a dish from a selection of made-to-order dishes, such as Eggs Benedict, our Continental breakfast, and Avocado Toast in the morning.

Conclusion

Aspire has done a fantastic job here, without a doubt. Even if you are ‘just’ in the main Aspire lounge, you will be in a lovely space with a lot of food, a large bar and the ability to pay for more substantial meals.

It’s to the credit of British Airways and KLM / Air France that they both agreed to pay for the smarter Luxe section to get the project off the ground. This area has impressive views, good seating and a decent selection of food and drink.

‘Suite’ is more of a gamble for Aspire, given that Emirates is the only contracted user. That said, it is arguably a decent deal for the £22 upgrade fee if you have a Priority Pass or DragonPass. If it doesn’t work out it can easily be merged into Luxe outside of the Emirates hours.

Aspire told me that it is in discussions with other airports about introducing Luxe and Suite alongside its existing standard lounges, so hopefully we will see the concept rolled out further.

You can book the standard Aspire lounge or ‘Suite by Aspire’ for cash on the executivelounges.com website here.

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How to get FREE airport lounge access via UK credit cards (April 2025)

Here are the five options to get FREE airport lounge access via a UK credit card.

The Platinum Card from American Express comes with two free Priority Pass cards, one for you and one for a supplementary cardholder. Each card admits two so a family of four gets in free. You get access to all 1,500 lounges in the Priority Pass network – search it here.

You also get access to Eurostar, Lufthansa and Delta Air Lines lounges.  Our American Express Platinum review is here.

You can apply here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold is FREE for the first year. It comes with a Priority Pass card loaded with four free visits to any Priority Pass lounge – see the list here.

Additional lounge visits are charged at £24.  You get four more free visits for every year you keep the card.  

There is no annual fee for Amex Gold in Year 1 and you get a 20,000 points sign-up bonus.  Full details are in our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review here.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard gets you get a free Priority Pass card, allowing you access to the Priority Pass network.  Guests are charged at £24 although it may be cheaper to pay £60 for a supplementary credit card for your partner.

The card has a fee of £290 and there are strict financial requirements to become a HSBC Premier customer.  Full details are in my HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard review.

Got a small business?

If you have a small business, consider American Express Business Platinum which has the same lounge benefits as the personal Platinum card:

You should also consider the Capital on Tap Pro Visa credit card which has a lower fee and, as well as a Priority Pass for airport lounge access, also comes with Radison Rewards VIP hotel status:

PS. You can find all of HfP’s UK airport lounge reviews – and we’ve been to most of them – indexed here.