I reckon a PAX operation out of an adapted portion of the present terminal could be achieved with the creation of a Museum of Flight in and around the remainder of the terminal. This could provide an ongoing profitable sub-business provided investment could be secured to ensure a decent number of exhibits and decent marketing. Basically, a Museum and pax terminal in the one building and with a direct rail link to both
I'm not sure how much museums make - most of them seem to be charities, and rely on government grants and subsidies to function. You'd be lucky to break even - you certainly couldnt build a profitable business based on one
so please tell me who is paying for PIK to stay open? because I don’t see a business case, where are the private capital firms queuing up to bid, no sign of Canadian pension funds or French infrastructure investors, I haven’t being to PIK in a decade, can some one show me a picture of what’s in the terminal, are there Next shops, Victoria secrets, sunglasses house, Jamie’s Itialian, even a MacDonalds ?
Airports don’t work without passengers, this just looks like poring good money after bad, please tell me I’m wrong.
Airports can work without passengers - there are plenty of functional airports dotted around the UK that have no passenger service. Most are maintenance hubs. The problem with PIK is it has a high cost base that was built up when it had a reasonably successful passenger operation. These costs need to be slashed as much as possible now, which is no easy task.
You're right though, as a business PIK isnt terribly viable, and that's why there are no investment firms queieng up to buy the airport. However, PIK also has a significant impact on the local economy, and that is why the Scottish Government have stepped in to invest in the airport. Not only are there airport related jobs to think about, but also the aviation industry in the surrounding area. Can you still run an aviation centre of excellence in South Airshire, if there is no airport on the doorstep? The advantage the scottish government has is they can look at the bigger picture - is it worth taking a small loss on running the airport in order to keep the local economy ticking through other means?
Seafood freight cargoes could form the backbone of a Scottish freight hub. I imagine the current Scottish Government have this in their vision.
I think most of this is already well catered by scheduled flights. Between the various US and Middle East airlines, the market is pretty well covered here. Besides, you dont need 747s to move fish - you can easily accommodate any such flights through EDI/GLA/ABZ.