PIK

[Paris]

In the early hours this morning there were (USAF) 12 C-17As, 2 C-130Js & 2 KC-135s as well as (RCAF) 2 CC-130Js, 1 CC-150 & 1 CC-177 on the airfield with the 18-off westbound Warthogs arriving later in the day

Exercise Air Defender 2023

Lost count of the wee Warthog thingys that have just flown over my head as I type.

[Sharpal7]

An employee at PIK mentioned to me today that there is talk of a party looking at the airport with a possible view of buying.

Don't know if fact or fiction.

Anyone heard anything?

[GeorgeNTravels]

An employee at PIK mentioned to me today that there is talk of a party looking at the airport with a possible view of buying.

Don't know if fact or fiction.

Anyone heard anything?

https://www.scotsman.com/news/transport ... nt-4261298

Looks like its true

[Clive]

An employee at PIK mentioned to me today that there is talk of a party looking at the airport with a possible view of buying.

Don't know if fact or fiction.

Anyone heard anything?

https://www.scotsman.com/news/transport ... nt-4261298

Looks like its true

Can anyone see beyond the paywall? Be interesting to see what is being said about this.

[Clive]

An employee at PIK mentioned to me today that there is talk of a party looking at the airport with a possible view of buying.

Don't know if fact or fiction.

Anyone heard anything?

https://www.scotsman.com/news/transport ... nt-4261298

Looks like its true

Can anyone see beyond the paywall? Be interesting to see what is being said about this.

Embdy? Is it a new article? I can’t even see the date

[ADIG]

Article

https://archive.is/NCIhM

[Clive]

Article

https://archive.is/NCIhM

Thank you.

No hint as to what the interested party would intend to do with it.

Hope remains that new owners close the terminal and Ryanair move pax ops to Glasgow’s main airport.

[TonyM90]

You'd be talking millions to demolish an old asbestos filled terminal to replace it with a brand new one surely, to then probably still risk running it at a loss for a small amount of passengers?

To be fair, I wouldn't put it past someone doing that given all the silly money that gets thrown around in aviation, i.e. Flybe 2.0.

Prestwick has done better recently expanding the business beyond commercial travel but I'll wait and see what happens in the next few years as long as it still has that terminal to operate which won't be cheap given its age and size with little through traffic and the airport was a big base of operations through things like the pandemic and COP26 which brought in a lot of money that will somehow need replaced. That land space surely would be far more valuable if it was repurposed for the other things that have done alright and don't have the same running costs, i.e. maintenance ops etc.

[Bearsden]

As we all know the biggest revenue earner is its military operations (in particular fuelling) with of course a significant spin-off in the local community for accommodation etc

Prestwick is running at a profit

The SG still see Prestwick as an airport ie with passengers and not an airfield so I see any 'forced' move of Ryanair's passengers operations highly unlikely - the argument will be put forward that the passenger flights lessen the need for positioning flights for maintenance

Yes the terminal building is expensive to run per sq ft used but that is largely irrelevant if the contribution from car parking, duty & tax free sales and other passenger income exceeds direct passenger costs (a lot of contracts are seasonal, part-time or split-shift) - asbestos only becomes an issue if you disturb it so 'let sleeping dogs lie'

[Clive]

As we all know the biggest revenue earner is its military operations (in particular fuelling) with of course a significant spin-off in the local community for accommodation etc

Prestwick is running at a profit

The SG still see Prestwick as an airport ie with passengers and not an airfield so I see any 'forced' move of Ryanair's passengers operations highly unlikely - the argument will be put forward that the passenger flights lessen the need for positioning flights for maintenance

Yes the terminal building is expensive to run per sq ft used but that is largely irrelevant if the contribution from car parking, duty & tax free sales and other passenger income exceeds direct passenger costs (a lot of contracts are seasonal, part-time or split-shift) - asbestos only becomes an issue if you disturb it so 'let sleeping dogs lie'

The question will be what the eventual buyers intend to do with their facility. Hopefully they’ll be of the opinion that keeping pax ops with one unpredictable customer and no prospect of additional airline customers is a costly burden on the core business activities, which are clearly going to be similar to now. We don’t need me to list them - but they might see scope for expansion in global air freight and military staging. They might have a major partner wanting to build a hub such as Fed Ex, UPS or the likes. If pax ops don’t cover their own costs or if Ryanair don’t like the new owners attitude then all bets would be off in a trice.