PIK

[Speedbird Julie]

The argument against expansion at GLA and closure of the PIK base was always that they needed the base to rotate aircraft in and out for maintenance.

If you look at FR24 there is a near nightly swap of aircraft between EDI and PIK maintenance. There are also aircraft positioning in and out of other bases, both UK and abroad for maintenance at PIK. This now destroys that argument.

The other issue now is EDI is probably at saturation point for RYR and EZY where they are constrained by facilities from being able to add much more in terms of based aircraft and away based flying. This is the opportunity that GLA should be targeting.

The limited Ryanair schedule at Prestwick doesn't allow 100% aircraft rotation for maintenance but it does happen

I doubt Gordon Dewar thinks EDI is at saturation point - from The Herald today “We don’t see any short-term limit to that. We think we can continue to grow for the foreseeable future. We continue to work with airlines to show them that Edinburgh - and Scotland - is a place they want to continue to invest.” and “We are going to be significantly north of 16 million passengers this year.”

With Ryanair the negotiation is always about cost - looking at PIK's accounts for 2023/24 the total passenger revenue (including navigation, landing, parking & handling charges plus car parking and retail) was £9.63 per terminal passenger so the direct cost to Ryanair for its passenger operations is I believe minimal

And this is why airports that are predominantly FR tend to offer a poor passenger experience...

[TonyM90]

Politicians will be happy that PIK is returning a £3m annual profit these days so won’t feel the need to meddle in the management of PIK. It’s down to GLA’s new owners to get Ryanair based at GLA. Whether that’s at the expense of the PIK ops or some of the EDI based aircraft, it has to happen if GLA wants to regain proper market share.

While I completely agree that it is GLA management's responsibility to encourage Ryanair’s growth here—and I hope they succeed—even if Ryanair were to abandon PIK entirely and shift all operations to GLA, the presence of an active runway in Ayrshire will always pose a risk that they, along with other airlines, might relocate south.

Its the terminal not the runway which is the problem. Without that Prestwick won't have passenger operations and its terminal is extremely outdated and oversized now, any demolition and rebuild costs would not be economically sound at the taxpayers expense. That will be the ultimate fork in the road when the conversation occurs as to its long term fate. My hope would be the five year deal with Ryanair provides a transitional period of time to determine this, but I suspect the status quo will remain and its not something being considered at this time. It cannot be ignored forever though.

[Bearsden]

Another dent to GLA's profitability with direct competition for 'Scottish seafood and whisky exports to be transported on the return legs from Prestwick to Hong Kong, and early success in this endeavour.'

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/249 ... w-flights/

Prestwick Airport expects to more than treble cargo revenues to in excess of £10 million a year, hailing e-commerce flights as a “game changer” after winning major business from Hong Kong.

And it highlighted potential for Scottish seafood and whisky exports to be transported on the return legs from Prestwick to Hong Kong, and early success in this endeavour.

The huge projected growth in revenues was revealed by Nico Le Roux, who heads the airport’s cargo operations, in an interview with The Herald yesterday just hours before the overnight arrival of the first Hong Kong Air Cargo (HKAC) flight at Prestwick.

Mr Le Roux, who has spent decades working in the air cargo industry, said: “This new business is going to be a game changer for the airport. It will totally transform the airport basically.”

Cargo revenues at the airport, which is known officially as Glasgow Prestwick Airport, totalled £3.228 million in the year to March 31, 2024.

Mr Le Roux revealed his expectation that cargo revenues would be more than treble that level in the airport’s next financial year to March 31, 2026, on the back of recent new business wins.

He confirmed such an increase would take annual cargo revenues into double-digit-millions of pounds.

Mr Le Roux said: “It will more than treble cargo revenue - what we know is in the pipeline.”

Prestwick Airport’s passenger revenues were £5.039m in the year to March 2024.

The Scottish Government rescued the airport in 2013 and advanced it £43.4m of loans. The airport, which remains owned by the Scottish Government, has now posted five consecutive years of profit.

As well as highlighting Prestwick Airport’s success in winning cargo flights bringing packages ordered by UK and Irish consumers on the likes of the Temu, SHEIN, and TikTok platforms, Mr Le Roux underlined his enthusiasm about the potential for Scottish seafood and whisky to be exported on the return legs.

He revealed that there was a consignment of Scottish seafood going out to Hong Kong on the first return leg of the new HKAC service, observing this had been arranged at short notice and emphasising Prestwick Airport’s ability to be flexible in accommodating such requests swiftly.

The airport noted that HKAC was “the first Far East airline to operate at the airport”, with the inaugural flight being an Airbus A330-200F from Hong Kong.

Mr Le Roux said yesterday that the flight landing at Prestwick overnight would be the first of three “development flights” between now and the end of the month.

He added that HKAC is “then talking about three [flights] a week” to Prestwick.

And Mr Le Roux revealed the “average” expectation is for one e-commerce cargo flight per day overall at Prestwick, while noting the potential for more than this.

Highlighting Prestwick Airport’s capacity, and willingness to invest, he added: “If we go to more than one [e-commerce] flight a day, we will look to go to mechanisation and automation.”

Prestwick Airport’s current workforce is 354, and it calculates that it supports about another 4,000 jobs in the giant aerospace cluster around it.

Prestwick Airport and Chicago Rockford International Airport last November signed a joint development agreement to promote cargo flights between the two locations.

Mr Le Roux said: “That is to stimulate the aerospace traffic between the two airports because they have got a big cluster as well.”

He also noted that many of the big GEnx aeroplane engines from around the world are overhauled at GE Aerospace’s facility at Prestwick, and that these are shipped as cargo.

Prestwick Airport aims to create an additional 64 roles directly involved in e-commerce operations in its cargo business in the first half of this year as it gears up for the new flights, and has filled a third of these posts to date. The number of employees in the cargo division before this recruitment drive was 14.

The new jobs will mainly be in warehouse operations, and will also include supervisory and management roles.

Mr Le Roux highlighted Prestwick Airport’s advantages for cargo operators, in terms of its quick turnaround times, lower costs, and flexibility given its 24/7 operation and absence of any curfews or extra charges for landing at night.

He also flagged the fact that its operations were all handled in-house by its own employees, including ground-handling, fuelling, air-traffic control and fire services.

Mr Le Roux noted the bonded warehouses were on site, and also highlighted the proximity of the cargo facilities to the ramps.

He also flagged the fact that the airport was not congested, and its ability to accommodate large freighters.

Mr Le Roux also highlighted Prestwick Airport’s ability to have a cargo plane back in the air within two hours of landing.

He underlined the speed with which cargo planes were unloaded once they arrived, contrasting this with the situation at some other airports.

Mr Le Roux said: “Within two hours, we basically guarantee aircraft arrive and take off again.”

He said this was very important to operators “because that aircraft only makes money when it is in the air”.

Mr Le Roux also highlighted heavy investment in new equipment at Prestwick Airport. This includes equipment to handle the wide-door A350 cargo aircraft.

He noted that Prestwick Airport had invested about £2m in new cargo-handling equipment in the last financial year.

The airport has also leased large chillers to enable it to handle the likes of fresh seafood.

Mr Le Roux flagged salmon as the main food export from Scotland to China, while highlighting the demand for lobster and crab in Hong Kong.

He said that logistics providers serving the seafood industry and the Scotch whisky sector had been in touch on the back of news of the launch of the cargo flights from Hong Kong to Prestwick Airport, expressing interest in transporting exports on the return legs.

Prestwick Airport said the first HKAC flights would be carrying shipments from major e-commerce platforms SHEIN, Temu, and TikTok, which all operate out of Hong Kong.

Each flight will carry up to 60 tonnes of cargo, which will be processed and sorted at the airport before “final-mile delivery" by Royal Mail Group and Evri.

Prestwick Airport announced a major partnership last June with Royal Mail as it geared up to attract e-commerce cargo flights.

Mr Le Roux noted that Prestwick Airport was seeing growth in its general cargo business as well.

Cargolux operates three flights a week at Prestwick. Air France has two cargo flights per week.

Mr Le Roux highlighted the airport’s proximity to the road and rail network. He flagged the opportunity to move freight by rail, something he noted the Scottish Government was keen to encourage.

He said: “Our disadvantage is we are located so far north.”

Mr Le Roux noted this extra distance meant a travel cost but added: “We offset that cost with the efficiency and the operating savings for aircraft operators.”

Prestwick Airport last November announced a £3.2m operating profit for the year to March 31, 2024. This was its fifth consecutive year of profit.

In November 2023, it had unveiled an operating profit of £2.1m for the 12 months to March 31, 2023, up from £1.9m in the previous financial year.

[Sharpal7]

Good business in a niche market.

[Clive]

A good news story. The more cargo and Scottish goods moved through PIK the better IMO.

[Speedbird Julie]

Another dent to GLA's profitability with direct competition for 'Scottish seafood and whisky exports to be transported on the return legs from Prestwick to Hong Kong, and early success in this endeavour.'

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/249 ... w-flights/

Prestwick Airport expects to more than treble cargo revenues to in excess of £10 million a year, hailing e-commerce flights as a “game changer” after winning major business from Hong Kong.

And it highlighted potential for Scottish seafood and whisky exports to be transported on the return legs from Prestwick to Hong Kong, and early success in this endeavour.

The huge projected growth in revenues was revealed by Nico Le Roux, who heads the airport’s cargo operations, in an interview with The Herald yesterday just hours before the overnight arrival of the first Hong Kong Air Cargo (HKAC) flight at Prestwick.

Mr Le Roux, who has spent decades working in the air cargo industry, said: “This new business is going to be a game changer for the airport. It will totally transform the airport basically.”

Cargo revenues at the airport, which is known officially as Glasgow Prestwick Airport, totalled £3.228 million in the year to March 31, 2024.

Mr Le Roux revealed his expectation that cargo revenues would be more than treble that level in the airport’s next financial year to March 31, 2026, on the back of recent new business wins.

He confirmed such an increase would take annual cargo revenues into double-digit-millions of pounds.

Mr Le Roux said: “It will more than treble cargo revenue - what we know is in the pipeline.”

Prestwick Airport’s passenger revenues were £5.039m in the year to March 2024.

The Scottish Government rescued the airport in 2013 and advanced it £43.4m of loans. The airport, which remains owned by the Scottish Government, has now posted five consecutive years of profit.

As well as highlighting Prestwick Airport’s success in winning cargo flights bringing packages ordered by UK and Irish consumers on the likes of the Temu, SHEIN, and TikTok platforms, Mr Le Roux underlined his enthusiasm about the potential for Scottish seafood and whisky to be exported on the return legs.

He revealed that there was a consignment of Scottish seafood going out to Hong Kong on the first return leg of the new HKAC service, observing this had been arranged at short notice and emphasising Prestwick Airport’s ability to be flexible in accommodating such requests swiftly.

The airport noted that HKAC was “the first Far East airline to operate at the airport”, with the inaugural flight being an Airbus A330-200F from Hong Kong.

Mr Le Roux said yesterday that the flight landing at Prestwick overnight would be the first of three “development flights” between now and the end of the month.

He added that HKAC is “then talking about three [flights] a week” to Prestwick.

And Mr Le Roux revealed the “average” expectation is for one e-commerce cargo flight per day overall at Prestwick, while noting the potential for more than this.

Highlighting Prestwick Airport’s capacity, and willingness to invest, he added: “If we go to more than one [e-commerce] flight a day, we will look to go to mechanisation and automation.”

Prestwick Airport’s current workforce is 354, and it calculates that it supports about another 4,000 jobs in the giant aerospace cluster around it.

Prestwick Airport and Chicago Rockford International Airport last November signed a joint development agreement to promote cargo flights between the two locations.

Mr Le Roux said: “That is to stimulate the aerospace traffic between the two airports because they have got a big cluster as well.”

He also noted that many of the big GEnx aeroplane engines from around the world are overhauled at GE Aerospace’s facility at Prestwick, and that these are shipped as cargo.

Prestwick Airport aims to create an additional 64 roles directly involved in e-commerce operations in its cargo business in the first half of this year as it gears up for the new flights, and has filled a third of these posts to date. The number of employees in the cargo division before this recruitment drive was 14.

The new jobs will mainly be in warehouse operations, and will also include supervisory and management roles.

Mr Le Roux highlighted Prestwick Airport’s advantages for cargo operators, in terms of its quick turnaround times, lower costs, and flexibility given its 24/7 operation and absence of any curfews or extra charges for landing at night.

He also flagged the fact that its operations were all handled in-house by its own employees, including ground-handling, fuelling, air-traffic control and fire services.

Mr Le Roux noted the bonded warehouses were on site, and also highlighted the proximity of the cargo facilities to the ramps.

He also flagged the fact that the airport was not congested, and its ability to accommodate large freighters.

Mr Le Roux also highlighted Prestwick Airport’s ability to have a cargo plane back in the air within two hours of landing.

He underlined the speed with which cargo planes were unloaded once they arrived, contrasting this with the situation at some other airports.

Mr Le Roux said: “Within two hours, we basically guarantee aircraft arrive and take off again.”

He said this was very important to operators “because that aircraft only makes money when it is in the air”.

Mr Le Roux also highlighted heavy investment in new equipment at Prestwick Airport. This includes equipment to handle the wide-door A350 cargo aircraft.

He noted that Prestwick Airport had invested about £2m in new cargo-handling equipment in the last financial year.

The airport has also leased large chillers to enable it to handle the likes of fresh seafood.

Mr Le Roux flagged salmon as the main food export from Scotland to China, while highlighting the demand for lobster and crab in Hong Kong.

He said that logistics providers serving the seafood industry and the Scotch whisky sector had been in touch on the back of news of the launch of the cargo flights from Hong Kong to Prestwick Airport, expressing interest in transporting exports on the return legs.

Prestwick Airport said the first HKAC flights would be carrying shipments from major e-commerce platforms SHEIN, Temu, and TikTok, which all operate out of Hong Kong.

Each flight will carry up to 60 tonnes of cargo, which will be processed and sorted at the airport before “final-mile delivery" by Royal Mail Group and Evri.

Prestwick Airport announced a major partnership last June with Royal Mail as it geared up to attract e-commerce cargo flights.

Mr Le Roux noted that Prestwick Airport was seeing growth in its general cargo business as well.

Cargolux operates three flights a week at Prestwick. Air France has two cargo flights per week.

Mr Le Roux highlighted the airport’s proximity to the road and rail network. He flagged the opportunity to move freight by rail, something he noted the Scottish Government was keen to encourage.

He said: “Our disadvantage is we are located so far north.”

Mr Le Roux noted this extra distance meant a travel cost but added: “We offset that cost with the efficiency and the operating savings for aircraft operators.”

Prestwick Airport last November announced a £3.2m operating profit for the year to March 31, 2024. This was its fifth consecutive year of profit.

In November 2023, it had unveiled an operating profit of £2.1m for the 12 months to March 31, 2023, up from £1.9m in the previous financial year.

EK will be delighted by the SG supported competition

[Clive]

EK will be delighted by the SG supported competition

Everyone should be delighted. EK’s time sensitive belly cargo can take care of itself. Maybe less of the overspill will need to be trucked to/from LHR if space is freed up of Temu and Shien tat.

[ADIG]

This is great news

[Iain]

https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/ ... k-airport/

Should we not celebrate the success of Prestwick Airport?

The first thing that strikes you about the airport, going airside in a minibus, is the scale of the airfield and the aerospace cluster around it.

You can gain some sense of the size of the cluster from the road which passes in front of Prestwick Airport. However, it is only once you have travelled round the back of the main terminal building that the full extent of these operations, and indeed the size of the airport itself become crystal clear.

Nico Le Roux, who heads the cargo operations at Prestwick, puts the number of jobs supported by the airport at the aerospace cluster at around 4,000. This excludes the 354 people employed directly by the airport - a number that is set to rise to around 400 with an ambitious expansion of the cargo operations.

He notes, as we pass it, Ryanair’s engineering facility at Prestwick Airport, which accounts for more than 600 jobs in the cluster.

The cluster includes Storm Aviation, GE Aerospace’s Caledonian operation, and Spirit AeroSystems, among a raft of big names in the industry.

The airport declares itself "the heart of Scotland’s aerospace industry, with over 50% of the country’s aerospace workforce employed at Prestwick, offering a diverse range of aviation services and providing vital connections to the rest of the world”.

Taking in the scale of the operations around the airport, that seems like a fair enough assessment.

From various places immediately around the airport and within a few miles of it, you can see there are, in spite of the impression the airport’s detractors might want to give as they seethe or simmer over the Scottish Government’s rescue of it, plenty of aircraft movements.

This activity includes landings and take-offs by cargo planes, military aircraft, passenger flights, and private jets, as well as pilot training. Given the variety of aircraft coming and going, it is no surprise that the “mound” at the airport is frequented by many plane spotters, many keen to post what they are watching on social media. There are a few atop the mound as we pass.

There is far less bustle and excitement at Prestwick Airport in terms of passengers than in the past, whether that be going all the way back to the transatlantic flights of bygone decades or the years around the turn of the millennium when the budget airlines took off.

Ryanair still flies on various routes from Prestwick but the destinations and number of flights are far fewer than around two decades ago. Earlier in the millennium, annual passenger numbers at the airport, which is officially known as Glasgow Prestwick Airport, had hit 2.5 million. Passenger numbers in 2023, the last full year for which figures are available, totalled 524,000.

Another undoubtedly striking feature of the airport these days is its check-in hall. You can form an impression in the mind’s eye of what the hustle and bustle of the check-in hall in the golden age of flight must have been like - from the scale of it - and recall the activity in the first decade of the new millennium. However, it now seems relatively empty.

Reflecting on a flurry of activity in the 1960s and 1970s on its website, Prestwick Airport says: “A new terminal building, freight building, control tower, loop road around the airport and longer runway are launched.

“The runway extension was implemented to serve the US Air Force - it conforms to the standard US military specification of the day. One of very few runways in the UK to do so. The airport welcomes its first jumbo jet and the prototype for Concorde makes an appearance at the 1972 Airshow. The airport is used as a training facility for Concorde pilots. A National Air Traffic Control Centre opens to control Scottish airspace.”

The US Air Force remains a major customer of Prestwick Airport, a key refuelling stop for its planes. The airport undertakes fuelling with its own staff, as is the case with air traffic control and a raft of other functions, rather than outsourcing these activities.

A US military plane is on one of the stands as we drive around the airport. As well as the US Air Force, Prestwick Airport also counts the Canadian military as a major customer.

There is also a British Airways plane, which diverted to Prestwick last Friday, with a technical issue, and we see it on the runway a short while later when back in the terminal building.

Earliest memories of Prestwick Airport are of going to see people off on flights to North America decades ago - at a time when there was not the sort of realistic prospect of frequent return trips that exists these days - and the outside viewing platform.

The airport has been through much since, and has certainly faced its challenges.

It was rescued by the Scottish Government in 2013. The Scottish Government subsequently advanced £43.4 million of loans.

Prestwick Airport has now enjoyed five consecutive years of profit, which is most welcome. And other good news includes the airport’s embarkation on a major expansion of its cargo operations.

And this brings me back to why I was at the airport on Monday, in the bright winter sunshine.

I was there to interview Mr Le Roux about the planned expansion of Prestwick’s cargo operations, something which he declared would “transform” the airport.

Mr Le Roux is a veteran of the air cargo sector, having worked in it for decades.

And his knowledge of and passion for this business come through clearly as we go airside.

Mr Le Roux revealed that Prestwick Airport expects to more than treble cargo revenues to in excess of £10 million a year, hailing e-commerce flights as a “game changer” after winning major business from Hong Kong.

He was speaking just hours before the overnight arrival of the first Hong Kong Air Cargo (HKAC) flight at Prestwick.

Highlighting Prestwick Airport’s success in winning these cargo flights bringing packages ordered by UK and Irish consumers on the likes of the Temu, SHEIN, and TikTok platforms, Mr Le Roux also underlined his enthusiasm about the potential for Scottish seafood and whisky to be exported on the return legs. He revealed there was a consignment of seafood going out on the first return leg to Hong Kong.

Flagging the importance of the e-commerce cargo flights, and underlining an “average” expectation of one such flight per day and three a week from HKAC, he declared: “This new business is going to be a game changer for the airport. It will totally transform the airport basically.”

Cargo revenues at the airport totalled £3.228 million in the year to March 31, 2024.

Mr Le Roux forecast cargo revenues would be more than treble that level in the airport’s next financial year to March 31, 2026, on the back of recent new business wins.

He confirmed such an increase would take annual cargo revenues into double-digit-millions of pounds.

Mr Le Roux said: “It will more than treble cargo revenue - what we know is in the pipeline.”

For context, Prestwick Airport’s passenger revenues were £5.039m in the year to March 2024.

The airport plans to create an additional 64 roles directly involved in e-commerce operations in its cargo business in the first half of 2025 as it gears up for the new flights, and has already filled a third of these posts. Before this recruitment drive, the number of employees in the cargo division was 14.

There has been much grumbling from some quarters, much of it seemingly politically motivated, about the Scottish Government’s rescue of Prestwick Airport.

However, it should be evident without an airside tour - even solely based on the employment provided directly by the airport and enabled in the aerospace cluster - that this is a key strategic asset.

Prestwick Airport, which also has a major advantage in terms of its location for landings when for example other airports are hit by snow and fog, last November announced a £3.2m operating profit for the year to March 31, 2024.

In November 2023, it had unveiled an operating profit of £2.1m for the 12 months to March 31, 2023, up from £1.9m in the previous financial year.

And Mr Le Roux’s expectation that Prestwick Airport will more than treble annual cargo revenues to more than £10 million is most encouraging.

Prestwick Airport undoubtedly went through a tough period in the run-up to and following its rescue by the Scottish Government.

However, that surely makes it all the more important to celebrate the airport’s current success. Does it not?

[Clive]

Indeed to all of that. The politically motivated detractors must be feeling rather foolish by now. And great news that there was no mention of expanding pax ops - the airport is going in the exact direction that I and others always thought it should. And yes, for Scotland it is a key strategic asset that we would have been far poorer without.