There was a rumour a wee while back that a major tour operator was to go into one of the buildings at the Aerospace Park. However nothing ever came of it, so could the two be linked?
However Sunsetrep does have a valid point in management at Prestwick putting all their eggs in one basket (first Ryanair and now Barrhead Travel).
Ever since the demise of Seguro (and Globespan moving up the M77) Prestwick has been crying out for an integrated tour operator to have services out of it as not everyone can be bothered to trawl through hotel websites, arrange their own transfers etc.
I personally reckon it could have been Monarch that was the proposed new operator that Sunsetrep was talking about (makes sense to me, they offer both flight only and package deals and have no significant presence in Scotland) and if any potential deal is now dead over leafleting(!), then that's poor business strategy from management.
Another point about PIK and GLA is the lack of city routes available, if I was management at Prestwick, I'd be pulling out all the stops to beat Glasgow to the punch and attract a regional operator (with CRJ's or E-jets) to operate routes to major German cities (Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich), the major Scandanavian cities, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels because there is a market there for business and leisure routes there.
As Prestwick is losing money, I hope that any deal with the potential new operator can be revivied and give Ryanair and Barrhead Travel some competition as it is not a healthy situation to be in, relying on 1 major operator and 1 travel agent.