PRESTWICK

[james170969]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong please, wasn't there plans to expand the departure and arrivals area? Presumably this has been put on hold until the economy picks up and more people fly again.

[sealink]

I am a fan of PIK having flow there from BHD with RYR before they sadly pulled out of BHD. The airport serves the area well and i think the facilities are adequate. Probably never get to use PIK again unless someone starts flying from BHD again,

[Skipness One Echo]

Ummm given that PIK was built underground to prevent people being blown away by the VC10, it's really a design of it's age. Without a massive rebuild it's going remain much as it was. Also given who Customer #1 is and with the cross subsidy from cargo surely a fraction of it once was, I doubt we'll see much change. No more Singapore, Lufthansa or Polar alas.

Given that my earliest memories are watching a Worldways Tristar, a Northwest DC10 and a Wardair B747 all boarding simultaneously for a noon-ish departure, you have to wonder why the place didn't burst years ago. 99% of the time empty, 1% of the time too busy.

Have to agree with Ivor on most of his comments though, it's hardly a 21st century airport and the mad "departure gate" queue, if you can call it that, is a joke.

I agree BUT in what way does this differ from Ryanair's ideal? I know Sat 3 at Stansted is nice but MOL HATEs having to pay to use what he describes as a "gold plated taj mahal." Better facilities at EDI are cross subsidised by other operators and the easyJet gate on the old international pier at GLA is well past it's sell by date and again has no air bridges. It is much the same as the operation at PIK and the wind does blow when the doors open. This reminds me why I left. Way too windy in the winter. And summer.

There's actually heartfelt graffitti in the gents at GLA reading "TESCO METRO. WHS RIP".

[Jamie2k9]

FR 2011 starting to go on sale. Palma is up to 9 weekly. I'm sure it's only because Jet2 will be flying from Glasgow INT

[MichaelOLearyGenius]

pwalhx

Too right we get what we pay for, PIK is old, delapidated and not really suitable for todays traveller. It's not a great advert for Scotland when visitors arrive.

I think if you read Ivor's post carefully, he says he's tried it once and won't go back, so he is not having it both ways and is willing to fly from GLA instead. So get your facts right before you go spouting off.

Note: listen guys if Ivor is prepared to ditch PIK for GLA due to the lack of amenities at PIK just think how many others will too and not write on here about it. The old saying is you got to speculate to accumulate so a wee bit of investment would probably realise a lot more custom. Anyhow FR's flight prices to the Costas are not particularly cheap anymore.

[Skipness One Echo]

MOLmisnomer, what additions would Ryanair want or pay for? In the real world I mean.

so a wee bit of investment would probably realise a lot more custom.

They actually did a lot to spruce up the terminal and departures. New infrastructure is major capital investment though and with no revenue stream from customer #1 who do not want any competition, there's not much of a business case. In the real world.

I think if you read Ivor's post carefully, he says he's tried it once and won't go back, so he is not having it both

I did read his post. It was claptrap. Moans about security deliberately trying to block his progress and being told he wasn't allowed to read in the queue. I used PIK a lot and I don't recognise his concerns, and believe me I'm too old to be a fanboy. For someone who claims to fly the world, his expectations are skewed for the modern world.

[MichaelOLearyGenius]

Claptrap

Only because you don't agree with him?

As I have said I will continue to use PIK but think there are many far better airports around.

I agree with a lot of what he says, so just believe that everyone can have their own opinion and not follow the opinions of some Self ObsEssed fool, full of their own importance!!!

[Skipness One Echo]

Only because you don't agree with him?

More so that he's painting a wildly dark picture of the world being against him except the cleaners. I find it hard to take seriously when he adds boys in pink shirts, which means they're all gay apparently, to his big list of things he doesn't like. Different generation clearly. Maybe he was expecting a BA 707 at the end of the gate. That's my dream when I use PIK....

I spelt out the reasons why his moans were pretty unreasonable given the same scenario he paints is true at Glasgow and Edinburgh. If you think calling me a self obsessed fool furthers your argument one iota then you are mistaken. This isn't school and I'm not sure playground word games will add weight to your arguments. That's not "genius" in anyone's book.

There is nothing in the rant above that is not equally applicable to the old international facilty at Glasgow where the orange alternative fly from. I also explained where he was exaggerating and tried to point out a couple that were frankly unilkely to be true. I do not believe PIK security went out of their way to stop him getting his flight and I also don't believe he was ordered to stop reading in the queue. Unless perhaps he was on the ramp in which case that is pretty good advice.

Let me rephrase it. It wan't claptrap, but in fairness it was clear that he was in a foul mood that rubbed off on people, was rude to security and then added some colour with some things that seem unlikely to be true. I think that's a fair reflection. I'm happy for him to use GLA or EDI but if he wants a decent service and an airbridge, it's not the airport that's the problem.

[ScotsSLF]

I use GLA twice a week and at present sitting at PIK awaiting flight to DUB. Security staff pleasant enough, bar service ok and no more pricey than BHX, LHR etc. To be honest the departures hall is more comfy than both the Flybe and Easyjet gates at GLA. Not sure what all the fuss is about and whilst all our airports in central Scotland could be improved to have all three is great. We could be stuck in South Wales with CWL!

[james170969]

I totally agree, I can't see what all the fuss is about either. Prestwick really isn't as bad as some people make out. Yes, there are improvements that could be made at Prestwick but I have been at many worse airports. Last Friday I flew from Alicante back to Prestwick. The seating at Alicante had definately seen better days. Some of the padding had been taken off and there was just the bare metal to sit on. Some had been ripped. I could go on. Does that stop me from using Alicante? HELL NO!! I don't go on holiday to look at an airport!! How long am I going to spend in it? Not that long.
I hope that Prestwick will attract more airlines and flights. The more they attract, the more passengers will pass through the airport which in turn will generate more revenue and hopefully more investment to upgrade the facilities.

[OntimeexceptACARS]

There's actually heartfelt graffitti in the gents at GLA reading "TESCO METRO. WHS RIP".

Should be Greggs RIP. That was the biggest blow.

[The Hypnoboon]

Prestwick is really showing it's age now, a major rebuild will be necessary soon but it's a bit catch 22. With modern, well designed facilities PIK could attract more airlines and therefore make more money and invest in improving facilities. But a rebuild costs money, and to make more money more airlines and passengers are needed, but with the current facilities, doing that will be hard and so the cycle goes on.

It will take a brave person in this financial climate to commit what could end up being a couple of hundred million pounds into a project that may not have a return for a considerable length of time.

On an unrelated note, what do people think the market from Prestwick (or Glasgow) would be for city routes (Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Scandanavia etc) using 50-99 seat aircraft would be. Ryanair used to with 189 seat 738's so a smaller operator using something like an E-Jet or an AN-148(!) May have some joy if marketed correctly.

[ScotsSLF]

Sitting bored at GLA awaiting a flight to Heathrow and before leaving home I noticed that there were a number of aircraft diverted to PIK due to the snow including amongst others the Emirates 777. Whilst sitting here waiting in the BA Lounge the same aircraft (I assume) has just taxied on to stand at GLA at 1910. I would assume that bussing the PAX to PIK would be more cost effective than positioning a 777 30 miles up the road. Or is my boredom getting to me??

[Skipness One Echo]

Does the sun now set in the North?

This picture really looks odd to me.....

BBC News - Your Pictures of Scotland: 19 - 26 November

If that's the sun, it's way too far round even for mid summer I think.

[Graham Borland]

It's not just the passengers. Several tons of cargo, for starters...

[PIK3141]

The Emirates landed at PIK around 1230. Did they then keep the passengers on board, all the way until it departed for GLA around 6 pm ? Nearly 6 hours ? So it flew up to GLA and loaded the Dubai pax, and departed GLA about 9 pm ?

Advice to Emirates - next time land at PIK, deplane the pax, bags and freight, bus them to GLA or let them make their own way to where-ever, bus the Dubai pax down, load the aeroplane, and with some competence, depart 3 or 4 hours after landing.

I flew GLA - Dubai - Melbourne 3 years ago with Emirates. The experience was such that 3 weeks ago I travelled via LHR to use Qantas rather than repeat that experience. Guess Saturday's passengers won't want to repeat the Emirates experience either.

[wanna_be_there]

I do tend to agree on this.
When I first heard EK diverted to PIK, rather than an EK station such as NCL/MAN, I thought their plan was to bus pax across and road the freight down.

The only thing I can think of, is that as the cargo may have already been airside, they couldnt get clearance to bring it back out of the airport, or maybe there were no truck to move it to PIK?

Bussing pax is one thing, but freight is a little more awkward. Im sure EK had their reasons for doing what they did.

Id bet the pax were bussed up to GLA and then the aircraft positioned empty to GLA though.

[Skipness One Echo]

Given the amount of air freight through PIK I wonder what the cargo issue would have been? I mean it could have gone the next day in a happier manner than 400 angry passengers.

[pwalhx]

The issue would not have been the ability to handle cargo at PIK more likely the customs status and /or security in GLA I assume.

[wanna_be_there]

Its not that PIK couldnt handle the cargo, but how the cargo would get to PIK.

Dont forget, they may not have been able to source the wagons to take it there due to the amount of snow, and even if they did, again due to the snow, they may not have been able to get to PIK.