Glasgow Airport is being treated unfairly by government, claims leader

[G-WATP]

Glasgow Airport is being unfairly treated by the Scottish Government according to a city business leader.

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/247 ... w-airport/

[Bearsden]

Same old record from Mr Patrick - no questioning of recent AGS management's efforts (Andrew Cliffe has been in position for two years with little progress other than more outbound market capacity but as we all know we have to go back far further)

I reiterate my comments that AviAlliance are paying far too much for AGS

[Iain]

I don't really have any problem with Stuart Patrick coming out with this, even if the case is perhaps questionable when you look at the details. It's his job to stand up for the city, so we should expect him to be out there fighting for everything. I don't think there's really a lot to be gained by him by having a go at AGS, given there's new owners waiting in the wings and they will be in control in a few months.

I think the statements from Andy Cliffe are more noteworthy:

Andy Cliffe Chief Executive of Glasgow Airport owners AGS, said: “We remain absolutely focussed on the delivery of route connectivity into this place.

“It is hugely important for the economic prosperity and the social prosperity of this region.”

He warned against a fixation on North America although he said it was hugely important.

After he's repeatedly publicly stated N American routes were top priority! . And add in a bit of a brass neck telling businesses in the city that he knows better than them what connectivity they need.

Talk about failing and then backtracking to try and cover your a**e.

Maybe if he'd bothered to spend 5 minutes looking at the tourism stats - that show the USA is Glasgow's number one source of inbound foreign visitors - then he might understand why people are "fixated" with having direct flights to the USA.

He said: “There is a vast amount of importance from deeper western European connectivity.”

"Western European connectivity" that he's also very clearly also completely failed to deliver. What a joke.

When Cliffe came in he talked a good game, but he's failed to attract pretty much all the routes he's publicly talked about - Direct USA flights, flights to China, more routes to Germany, a route to MAD. All specifically mentioned by him publicly and all not delivered. There's still no sign of TK to IST either.

We can only hope there will be quick changes at the top once AviAlliance take control.

[G-WATP]

He warned against a fixation on North America although he said it was hugely important

This comes across as Andy Cliffe trying to adjust people's expectations as he knows that North American routes aren't happening any time soon.

[Clive]

He warned against a fixation on North America although he said it was hugely important

This comes across as Andy Cliffe trying to adjust people's expectations as he knows that North American routes aren't happening any time soon.

Or a realisation that what GLA needs above all is a Ryanair base, for “deeper connectivity” and double digit growth.

[atuk]

[quote=G-WATP post_id=13680 time=<a href="tel:1733645349">1733645349</a> user_id=119]

He warned against a fixation on North America although he said it was hugely important

This comes across as Andy Cliffe trying to adjust people's expectations as he knows that North American routes aren't happening any time soon.

Or a realisation that what GLA needs above all is a Ryanair base, for “deeper connectivity” and double digit growth.
[/quote]

Which routes would you like to see, Clive, without jeopardising those which are already saturated from elsewhere?

Personally I would like to see more focus on EZY and LS to provide more choice along with an improved TUI offering.

GLA will finally receive Sun Express, something which along with JetBlue should have never gone to EDI.

Regards Mr Cliffe, my own view at the time was style over substance. Looks like I’m right once again.

[Iain]

He warned against a fixation on North America although he said it was hugely important

This comes across as Andy Cliffe trying to adjust people's expectations as he knows that North American routes aren't happening any time soon.

Yes, it certainly appears that way. Here's what he was saying in February this year:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=881

“North America remains absolutely a target. We are very hopeful we will start to return those services to Glasgow as well.”

Asked if a North American service was likely to be seasonal or operated by a flag carrier, Mr Cliffe replied: “I think it is flag carrier. I don’t know if it is seasonal or not. We will have to see how that works.”

Citing investment bank JP Morgan, defence engineering company BAE Systems, and banking group Barclays, he added: “There is a huge amount of demand that [emanates] from this region to support those services.”

Mr Cliffe, when asked if the airport was currently in discussions with an airline about the launch of a North American route from Glasgow, replied: “We continue to talk to all airlines on any number of opportunities. There are certainly discussions in play at the moment.”

He similarly targetted N American connections in another interview with The Herald in May 2023.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/business ... ng-weight/

It certainly seems like a volte face, or to put it more unkindly, desperate backtracking in the face of failure.

Or a realisation that what GLA needs above all is a Ryanair base, for “deeper connectivity” and double digit growth.

You could certainly make that argument. An FR base would definitely attract far more passengers than a seasonal North American route.

But the issue here is that Mr Cliffe has also failed to deliver an FR base, or any meaningful increase in the European connectivity that he trumpets as being so important. In the 2 interviews I'm citing he said this on European destinations:

"European paired destinations we will target coming back.”

He flagged potential for new services to Germany, the north of Italy, and Spanish cities such as Madrid, focused on “real business and trade” rather than the leisure market.

“WizzAir returned their operation to Glasgow in the autumn of last year. We expect them to build from that position.”

“There has been a lot of talk about what Turkish [Airlines] wants to do. Glasgow sits on their radar of intended opportunities.”

He's literally delivered none of the above. Abject failure - and it appears style over substance as suggested.

[Clive]

[quote=G-WATP post_id=13680 time=<a href="tel:1733645349">1733645349</a> user_id=119]

He warned against a fixation on North America although he said it was hugely important

This comes across as Andy Cliffe trying to adjust people's expectations as he knows that North American routes aren't happening any time soon.

Or a realisation that what GLA needs above all is a Ryanair base, for “deeper connectivity” and double digit growth.

Which routes would you like to see, Clive, without jeopardising those which are already saturated from elsewhere?
[/quote]

I wouldn’t care about jeopardising anything elsewhere. I’d like to see Ryanair serving 40 or more European cities from our airport, preferably the biggest and best cities in Europe but beggars wouldn’t be choosers. Definitely the likes of Madrid, Milan, Rome, Copenhagen, etc

[Speedbird Julie]

I've been through MAD a couple of times in the last month and would absolutely love to see an IB/Express flight from GLA. The connectivity to Central and South America is outstanding and it would be great to come off a 13 flight from MVD or SCL in my case and hop on a connection to GLA.

[TonyM90]

I mean, in in the simplist sense, no matter how poorly managed GLA has been, it has suffered heavily from the PIK's passenger op being propped up by the state and then the likes of EDI getting a publicly funded rail link to its city centre whilst GLA has went without. That stuff is undeniable I would say.