Couldn’t care less. I’m sure lots of members would agree with me.
It would seem rather myopic not to consider GLA's results in the context of what's happening elsewhere in the central Scotland (and wider UK) air travel market. I'm sure most members of the forum would be able to have a reasoned discussion of that topic.
No, it’s tediously boring and inevitably all this sh!te kicks off when the mods ask to desist. PiperOne makes a good contribution but is probably now wishing he hadn’t bothered.
If anyone wants a forum dedicated to how sh!te GLA is compared to EDI, I can give them a few pointers on how to set one up. But I won’t be paying for it.
Couldn’t care less. I’m sure lots of members would agree with me.
It would seem rather myopic not to consider GLA's results in the context of what's happening elsewhere in the central Scotland (and wider UK) air travel market. I'm sure most members of the forum would be able to have a reasoned discussion of that topic.
No, it’s tediously boring and inevitably all this sh!te kicks off when the mods ask to desist. PiperOne makes a good contribution but is probably now wishing he hadn’t bothered.
If anyone wants a forum dedicated to how sh!te GLA is compared to EDI, I can give them a few pointers on how to set one up. But I won’t be paying for it.
Not tediously boring, it’s FACT and we need to continue to call out AGS.
What is boring is the complete lack of general discussion on this forum, given AGS’ apparent inability to secure any meaningful new/return/additional business.
Just a slight glimmer of hope is that our market share as increased very slightly from 2.7% to 2.8%. However, not yet above 2004 for the January figures, and still around 400k short of the full year numbers. UK market share in 2004 was 4%, so we are very much losing ground in the total market. Jan 2005 passenger total was 505k, so still a fair way to go to catch that.
PiperOne wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 9:32 am
Just a slight glimmer of hope is that our market share as increased very slightly from 2.7% to 2.8%. However, not yet above 2004 for the January figures, and still around 400k short of the full year numbers. UK market share in 2004 was 4%, so we are very much losing ground in the total market. Jan 2005 passenger total was 505k, so still a fair way to go to catch that.
We have had a turgid time, especially since the Covid lockdown and reset. But the airport has very recently been taken over by new owners and the airport group has a new CEO who has stated how he sees growth potential in the same way we do. Of course he now has to put that into action. As ever, only securing Ryanair base could add north of a million new pax each year for the next 4 or 5 years and regain a portion of market share. To me, in the absence of that one piece of business, this conversation on how lacking GLA is compared to just about anywhere else is never going to end.
Unfortunately it's notable that number of UK regionals - not just you know where - are ahead of their 2019 numbers, whilst GLA is still a fair bit behind. All these airports had the same Covid, Brexit, APD etc.
I think its pretty clear that AGS haven't done a brilliant job, particularly over the last 5 or 6 years, but, as Clive says, new owners are in place so we'll have to hope they can make a difference.
Wrt to EDI, obviously it isn't the primary concern of the forum and we're certainly not interested in minor details like who's adding an extra flight to per week to AGP in May or what colour the new carpets in the departure lounge are. However general discussion of it is entirely relevant imo because whether we like it or not it's GLA's biggest competitor (Gordon Dewar stated that explicitly in an interview just a few weeks ago.) and clearly large amounts of passengers are leaking from our catchment to EDI.
As I've said many times, lots of businesses benchmark against their competitors to measure performance, so comparing and benchmarking GLA against EDI and other regional airports is very pertinent.
It's notable there's a thread about PIK with unrestricted discussion of that airport and nobody seems to worry about it or complain, but when similar discussion of EDI crops up it seems to cause issues. That doesn't really make sense to me - if EDI is off topic then surely PIK (or any other UK regional) is also off topic.
Iain wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 11:39 am
Unfortunately it's notable that number of UK regionals - not just you know where - are ahead of their 2019 numbers, whilst GLA is still a fair bit behind. All these airports had the same Covid, Brexit, APD etc.
I think its pretty clear that AGS haven't done a brilliant job, particularly over the last 5 or 6 years, but, as Clive says, new owners are in place so we'll have to hope they can make a difference.
Wrt to EDI, obviously it isn't the primary concern of the forum and we're certainly not interested in minor details like who's adding an extra flight to per week to AGP in May or what colour the new carpets in the departure lounge are. However general discussion of it is entirely relevant imo because whether we like it or not it's GLA's biggest competitor (Gordon Dewar stated that explicitly in an interview just a few weeks ago.) and clearly large amounts of passengers are leaking from our catchment to EDI.
As I've said many times, lots of businesses benchmark against their competitors to measure performance, so comparing and benchmarking GLA against EDI and other regional airports is very pertinent.
It's notable there's a thread about PIK with unrestricted discussion of that airport and nobody seems to worry about it or complain, but when similar discussion of EDI crops up it seems to cause issues. That doesn't really make sense to me - if EDI is off topic then surely PIK (or any other UK regional) is also off topic.
It’s just boring Iain, that fact that this happens every time GLA’s growth figures are mentioned. The landscape and market share won’t change until Ryanair are here so there’s no point in beating ourselves up about it every second week.
Iain wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 11:39 am
Unfortunately it's notable that number of UK regionals - not just you know where - are ahead of their 2019 numbers, whilst GLA is still a fair bit behind. All these airports had the same Covid, Brexit, APD etc.
I think its pretty clear that AGS haven't done a brilliant job, particularly over the last 5 or 6 years, but, as Clive says, new owners are in place so we'll have to hope they can make a difference.
Wrt to EDI, obviously it isn't the primary concern of the forum and we're certainly not interested in minor details like who's adding an extra flight to per week to AGP in May or what colour the new carpets in the departure lounge are. However general discussion of it is entirely relevant imo because whether we like it or not it's GLA's biggest competitor (Gordon Dewar stated that explicitly in an interview just a few weeks ago.) and clearly large amounts of passengers are leaking from our catchment to EDI.
As I've said many times, lots of businesses benchmark against their competitors to measure performance, so comparing and benchmarking GLA against EDI and other regional airports is very pertinent.
It's notable there's a thread about PIK with unrestricted discussion of that airport and nobody seems to worry about it or complain, but when similar discussion of EDI crops up it seems to cause issues. That doesn't really make sense to me - if EDI is off topic then surely PIK (or any other UK regional) is also off topic.
Not tediously boring, it’s FACT and we need to continue to call out AGS.
What is boring is the complete lack of general discussion on this forum, given AGS’ apparent inability to secure any meaningful new/return/additional business.
Very true. The fact that there can be days on here without any new posts is testament to that. There's been nothing exciting happening at the airport for a long time now (hopefully about to change soon) while other provincial airports seem to excel. It's frustrating, and it is boring reading about how GLA lacks this, that and the next thing but unfortunately it's real life. Hopeful that AviAlliance will sort it out quickly but obviously far too late for S25. Probably looking at new W25 routes then an FR base for S26.
As for AGS? I'd like to never hear about them again on this forum. Total and utter waste of time, effort and money. They spent millions on courting EK and then EK stuffed us with the second daily flight going east. That, to me sums up the whole AGS tenure. Awful.
Not tediously boring, it’s FACT and we need to continue to call out AGS.
What is boring is the complete lack of general discussion on this forum, given AGS’ apparent inability to secure any meaningful new/return/additional business.
Very true. The fact that there can be days on here without any new posts is testament to that. There's been nothing exciting happening at the airport for a long time now (hopefully about to change soon) while other provincial airports seem to excel. It's frustrating, and it is boring reading about how GLA lacks this, that and the next thing but unfortunately it's real life. Hopeful that AviAlliance will sort it out quickly but obviously far too late for S25. Probably looking at new W25 routes then an FR base for S26.
As for AGS? I'd like to never hear about them again on this forum. Total and utter waste of time, effort and money. They spent millions on courting EK and then EK stuffed us with the second daily flight going east. That, to me sums up the whole AGS tenure. Awful.
I think you’ll continue hearing about AGS Bill, they still exist as far as I’m aware.
I’ve no idea if the AGS ‘brand’ will continue to operate. I personally hope the AGS brand/umbrella is binned and the 3 airports all operate independently under AviAlliance ownership.
AviAlliance are airport investors. I don’t think AviAlliance will be ‘sorting anything out’ as you put it. AviAlliance now own Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports, and will be investing in them, much like VINCI Airports now own Belfast International, Edinburgh and London Gatwick. You don’t really hear of VINCI ‘sorting things out’ when it comes to their 3 airports - they all operate autonomously.
AGS Airports was established as a 50:50 joint-venture between Macquarie and Ferrovial following their 2014 acquisition of the airport portfolio from Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited.AGS was formed after BAA was ordered to sell off airports due to their monopoly of UK airports.
