PIK

[TonyM90]

If all Prestwick did was simple serve as a pit stop for Trump related business and the US Military at a profit for the Scottish tax payer then it would still serve a purpose for me despite the ethics of it all. It is an asset for Scotland and at this point the thought of it becoming a Taylor Wimpey estate sounds totally bonkers in hindsight. I just hope they continue to steer it in a direction which does not involve commercial aviation.

[bill]

Great read. So good to see PIK finally getting a handle on what it's very good at and where it's future lies. If ever an airport was suited for fast cargo, PIK is definitely it. The only way is up now and maybe through time FR and the pax terminal will become a nuisance to PIK, and a money drain. Up the M77 with the two based units please FR. Thank you.

[atuk]

Great read. So good to see PIK finally getting a handle on what it's very good at and where it's future lies. If ever an airport was suited for fast cargo, PIK is definitely it. The only way is up now and maybe through time FR and the pax terminal will become a nuisance to PIK, and a money drain. Up the M77 with the two based units please FR. Thank you.

I’ve always said that PIK is unrivalled for cargo ops - it’s the only Scottish airport which can cater for bloodstock cargo.

Add a paintshop to its cargo and MRO activities and bingo, a successful airport which doesn’t require passenger ops.

[G-WATP]

Good to see passenger numbers up 20% in December 2024.

[Iain]

Yet another "interested party":

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/250 ... -confirms/

A bidder is in talks to purchase Prestwick Airport, John Swinney has confirmed.

The publicly-owned airport was sold to the Scottish Government for £1 in 2013 with the intention that it be returned to the private sector after it began to turn a profit – which it has done in recent years.

Appearing at the twice-annual Conveners Group at Holyrood on Wednesday, the First Minister announced there is at least one bid under consideration for the airport.

Asked by Economy and Fair Work Committee convener Colin Smyth if he is aware of an active offer, the First Minister said: “I am.

“That’s a matter that’s currently under very active consideration.

[Clive]

Can anyone see behind the paywall on this article?

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics ... r-emerges/

[FlyGLA]

Can anyone see behind the paywall on this article?

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics ... r-emerges/

It was somewhat disappointing last week to hear a Labour MSP banging the political drum over the future of Prestwick Airport.

South Scotland Labour MSP Colin Smyth’s comments came after First Minister John Swinney confirmed that he was aware of an active bid for Prestwick Airport, which was bought by the Scottish Government for £1 in 2013.

Asked by Scottish Parliament economy and fair work committee convener Mr Smyth if he was aware of an active bid, the First Minister replied: “I am. That’s a matter that’s currently under very active consideration.”

Mr Swinney, answering the question at the conveners group at Holyrood last Wednesday, added: “I cannot quite recall exactly the stage those discussions are at, but if there is more information I can share with the group, I will write to the Presiding Officer and Mr Smyth on that.

“But these are very active and live issues at the present moment.”

Asked if the Government still intends to return the airport to private hands, the First Minister replied: “That’s the Government’s policy intention.”

With Prestwick Airport having been in the Scottish Government’s hands since 2013, of course the revelation of an active bid represents a significant development.

That said, while there were no details last week of the suitor or its proposals with which to gauge the chances of the approach leading to a deal, it is really no great surprise that the airport has attracted fresh bid interest.

The airport, known officially as Glasgow Prestwick Airport, revealed in November that it had made a fifth consecutive annual profit.

It announced a £3.2 million 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, as The Herald revealed in February, the airport has enjoyed some significant success with its cargo operations and has major ambitions to build on this.

Nico Le Roux, who heads the airport’s cargo operations, told The Herald in an exclusive interview that Prestwick Airport expects to more than treble cargo revenues to in excess of £10 million a year, viewing e-commerce flights as a “game changer” after winning major business from Hong Kong.

And he 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 interview with Mr Le Roux took place just hours before the overnight arrival of the first Hong Kong Air Cargo (HKAC) flight at Prestwick in February.

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 totalled £3.228m 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 financial year to March 31, 2026, on the back of recent new business wins.

Read more

Should we not celebrate the success of Prestwick Airport?
Scottish airports reveal major new flight hopes: 'This is going to be a game changer'
He confirmed such an increase would take annual cargo revenues into double-digit-millions of pounds.

Mr Le Roux in February, as we went airside at Prestwick, put the number of jobs supported by the airport at the aerospace cluster at around 4,000.

This excludes the workforce employed directly by the airport – which was 354 in February and set to rise to around 400 with the ambitious expansion plans for the cargo operations.

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

The key thing that everyone should bear in mind, of course, when it comes to Prestwick Airport is the major employment it provides both directly and indirectly, and the scale of the aerospace cluster in and around it.

And it was good to hear Mr Smyth emphasise the importance of any buyer maximising employment.

However, it seemed he could not resist politicking over the situation.

Read more

Two Scottish airports have starkly contrasting tales
More North America and China routes in Scottish airport's sights
It has undoubtedly been lamentable over the years to see Prestwick Airport used as a political football.

Mr Smyth said: “It’s more than a decade since Prestwick Airport was bought by the Scottish Government, which claimed that its plan was to return the airport to the private sector quickly.

“But every preferred bidder appointed by the Government has ended in the same outcome, which is no sale.”

It has indeed been a long time since the rescue of Prestwick Airport, after which the Scottish Government advanced £43.4m of loans. However, this period has included the coronavirus pandemic.

And, in any case, it would seem foolish to rush the sale of such an important strategic asset, especially given that it has been profitable for so long now. It is also crucial not to sell to a party with intentions which would jeopardise the direct employment provided by the airport or the jobs and activity supported by it.

Mr Smyth went on: “Prestwick workers have been stuck in limbo for years waiting for a deal to materialise, only to get knocked back to square one time and time again, and we can only hope that this time it will be different.

“I welcome any discussions on an active bid for the airport, but it is vital that any sale secures and grows the jobs at Prestwick, and sees the tens of millions of pounds worth of loans from the taxpayer to the airport paid back.”

He added: “Thousands of jobs are on the line in any deal – both direct at the airport but also across Ayrshire, so there is simply no room to get this wrong. We cannot abandon Prestwick and let it become yet another failed industrial intervention from the Scottish Government.

“The Scottish Government needs to show that in any sale there is a plan for the future of this vital strategic asset which I believe has huge potential to grow.”

There seemed to be quite a lot to unpack in Mr Smyth’s comments.

Thankfully, there is no suggestion that anyone is going to abandon Prestwick Airport, and any such danger has hopefully subsided as the volume levels of critics of the Scottish Government’s rescue of this key asset have been reduced by its consistent profitability.

And it is difficult to see how the Scottish Government’s rescue of Prestwick Airport is going to become a “failed industrial intervention”.

The intervention saved many jobs, and continues to support much direct and indirect employment and has surely been a positive in developing and maintaining the aerospace cluster in and around the airport.

Mr Smyth said he believes the airport has “huge potential to grow”.

This seems like a fair enough view. And hopefully he is right.

However, Mr Smyth seems on the one hand unhappy about the length of time a sale is taking, while on the other believing the Scottish Government “needs to show that in any sale there is a plan for the future of this vital strategic asset”.

Surely, he himself is highlighting a very good reason for treading warily, and taking time before agreeing a sale, ensuring the future of the airport and the surrounding cluster is not harmed by a deal and is hopefully helped.

[Clive]

Thanks FlyGLA. No new info about the proposed buyer or their plans for the site (which is what I’m interested in because I want it to succeed but for the new owners to close pax ops and for Ryanair to move those to GLA) but the article was more about the journalist highlighting how dumb and out of his depth the Labour MSP is for his amateurish intervention.

[TonyM90]

Thanks FlyGLA. No new info about the proposed buyer or their plans for the site (which is what I’m interested in because I want it to succeed but for the new owners to close pax ops and for Ryanair to move those to GLA) but the article was more about the journalist highlighting how dumb and out of his depth the Labour MSP is for his amateurish intervention.

I am concerned they will lean towards a sale which maintains passenger services to be honest, even though its delaying the inevitable (end of passenger ops at some point). I think that is somewhat impeding a sale in my opinion, as for what other reason have we been going round in circles now for years on this? No bidder has been rumoured for a long time now to want to shut it completely for other development such as houses, those suggestions were way back in the loss making days. AGS for example there is no way they would have maintained the passenger operation if they were successful in their bid, assuming they were serious. The sale should not be predicated on the fear of upsetting a small portion of people in Ayrshire because their convenient travel to the Med could move half an hour up the road instead, which as we know would infact open up wider opportunities at both GLA and PIK. Repurposing the land for non passenger ops at PIK which is proving to be viable and establishing a FR base at GLA which has the potential to dwarf what currently exists at both GLA and PIK combined currently.

[Clive]

Thanks FlyGLA. No new info about the proposed buyer or their plans for the site (which is what I’m interested in because I want it to succeed but for the new owners to close pax ops and for Ryanair to move those to GLA) but the article was more about the journalist highlighting how dumb and out of his depth the Labour MSP is for his amateurish intervention.

I am concerned they will lean towards a sale which maintains passenger services to be honest, even though its delaying the inevitable (end of passenger ops at some point). I think that is somewhat impeding a sale in my opinion, as for what other reason have we been going round in circles now for years on this? No bidder has been rumoured for a long time now to want to shut it completely for other development such as houses, those suggestions were way back in the loss making days. AGS for example there is no way they would have maintained the passenger operation if they were successful in their bid, assuming they were serious. The sale should not be predicated on the fear of upsetting a small portion of people in Ayrshire because their convenient travel to the Med could move half an hour up the road instead, which as we know would infact open up wider opportunities at both GLA and PIK. Repurposing the land for non passenger ops at PIK which is proving to be viable and establishing a FR base at GLA which has the potential to dwarf what currently exists at both GLA and PIK combined currently.

Indeed, and I think you might be right that government ministers are trying to get a sale that safeguards the pax ops, not least because of the political outcry that would follow if the buyer was intent on closing the terminal. Hopefully they fail if that’s the case and the buyer sets about doing the right thing.