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Old 3rd May 2011, 02:44
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Ara01

I don't understand your post?
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Old 3rd May 2011, 07:11
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I don't understand your post?
Well, unless the Eiffel Tower has been moved to the Bogside...



Quote from www.glasgowprestwick.com

Whether you want to go for a walk through Learmount Forest, visit the numerous museums or simply to look at the view from the Eiffel Tower, there are plenty of reasons to go to the City of Derry.

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Old 3rd May 2011, 20:07
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That'll be the Bogside next to Irvine?
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Old 4th May 2011, 09:33
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If you're interested, I think the best case study might be Birmingham based Duo. They lasted a few months flying CRJs to city destinations, wrong equipment for the market
Skipness, I don't think the problem with Duo was the type of equipment. It was a result of a massive change of identity from the previous BA franchise that nobody knew who they were - so did not trust them enough to book ahead.
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Old 4th May 2011, 10:33
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That's hilarious! And what's so special about Learmount Forest? And why did they include the Eiffel Tower? Mind you Shipquay St could be renamed the Chans a Shipquay!
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Old 4th May 2011, 18:46
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The competition webpage has now been corrected. This was the original.

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Old 9th May 2011, 15:55
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Prestwick in Herald

Saw this on another website, taken from Glasgow Herald:


PRESTWICK Airport has always stuck with its “Pure Dead Brilliant” moniker, despite the outcry from squirming west coasters when it was adopted five years ago.

But if you were asked to come up with an accurate description of the airport at present, those of a cruel disposition might be tempted just to omit the last word.

From a peak in 2007 when more than 2.4 million people passed through arrivals and departures at the Ayrshire airport, last week New Zealand owner Infratil confirmed that the average over the past year has been little more than 1.5 million. Prestwick has not made a profit in its two most recent financial years and it doesn’t expect to turn one this year either. This despite the fact that it has made almost 200 staff redundant – nearly two-fifths of the total – in that period. Having once famously hosted what might have been Elvis Presley’s only visit to the UK in 1960 (others insist he visited London a couple of years earlier), the airport’s airy terminal is in danger of becoming Heartbreak Hotel.

The good news is that things are still nowhere near as bad as in the early 1990s. However depressed the passenger numbers may be at Scotland’s fourth-largest airport after Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, they are still a million miles from the 10,000 that followed the tumbleweed through the terminal in 1993. That was the era when Prestwick was sold by BAA to BAe Systems. Having once handled transatlantic passenger flights for British Airways, Prestwick had been scraping by throughout the 1980s on freight work and occasional charter flights.

BAe had no interest in running an airport, but it built planes next door and needed to fly them in and out. With BAA being privatised, there was a real possibility Prestwick would close altogether. BAe soon sold the terminal to a group of local interests operating as PIK Limited, which built a railway station. This turned out to be perfectly timed for the start of the budget airlines boom. Prestwick started offering flights to Dublin in 1994 for an ambitious little airline called Ryanair, which soon added flights to London and Continental Europe.


The airports that are hurting most are the ones that were growing the most

By the middle of the decade passenger numbers were up to half-a-million a year and the freight business was gathering momentum.

This model continued through a couple of changes of ownership to Infratil’s full takeover in 2003. By then passenger numbers were knocking on two million, not just thanks to Ryanair but also to the likes of BMI.

Just as Prestwick’s marketing people decided calling the place Glasgow Prestwick might make the one-hour journey from Scotland’s biggest city seem shorter, the airport had become the route to obscure places within similar distance to Europe’s top destinations. As travellers seemed prepared to get out their maps to work out how to get from Beauvais to Paris or Ciampino to Rome, the new owners believed they were on course to overtake Aberdeen and become Scotland’s third-busiest airport.

The numbers, in fact, plateaued around the 2.4 million mark from 2005 until 2008 while Aberdeen boiled over three million, but this was hardly a disaster. As profits rolled in the management turned its attention to drawing up a new masterplan. In October 2008, just as the UK Government was scrambling to save HBOS and RBS, Prestwick’s chief executive at the time, Mark Rodwell, was unveiling proposals to take passenger numbers to 5.7 million by 2018 and 12 million by 2033.

The only thing that can be said in defence of these figures is that they were no crazier than those of any other airport. By the time the consultation period was up, the freight business had plummeted from around 35,000 tonnes a year in 2007 to little more than 10,000 two years later. Ryanair was chewing fingers off the hand from which it had once fed, moving routes to Edinburgh when it had become Prestwick’s dominant partner. By Christmas 2008, Prestwick had been running at a loss for two months. It announced shortly after that 50 staff, mainly on the freight side of the business, would be losing their jobs.



Passenger numbers started drying up in 2009, partly due to the lost routes and partly through declining demand, exacerbated by Government duties. Passenger numbers to Stansted, at one time 25% of Prestwick’s passenger business, fell from over 400,000 in 2008 to 224,500 in 2010; Dublin, Prestwick’s second-most important route, fell nearly 20%. Belfast routes stopped altogether after Ryanair severed its ties with the Northern Irish airport. Donegal, Derry, Shannon, Gothenburg, Milan and Budapest were among those that went, too. This is no different to the trend that saw BMI cancel its Glasgow-Heathrow route earlier this year, but it hurt more from Prestwick’s smaller base. When it was informed about further Ryanair cutbacks last spring, including more Stansted reductions, the management decided to act again. By last autumn, another 120 staff had been made redundant.

According to Louise Congdon, managing partner at leading consultancy York Aviation, Prestwick’s troubles are typical. “With the possible exception of Heathrow, all airports are suffering high amounts of pain,” she says. “The ones that are hurting most are the ones that were growing the most. The traditional rule of thumb is that airports could make money at one million passengers per annum. But the budget operators’ model has pushed that up to the two million mark. Foreign operators that came into the market in the past 10 years didn’t always see that coming.”

Others allege that players like Infratil underestimated the market’s potential. They assumed the steep growth of the 1990s and early 2000s would continue indefinitely, failing to recognise that there was only so much demand for city breaks and cheap holidays in each area of the country.

Congdon adds that they have also been hit by the fact that spare capacity at bigger airports caused by their own passenger declines has made competition for airlines tougher than before. Hence Edinburgh’s growing relationship with Ryanair.

And Prestwick is not the only one losing money: Doncaster, Durham Tees Valley and reputedly Newcastle are all in similar positions, while Plymouth City recently announced that it will be closing at year’s end.

Iain Cochrane, the well-regarded chief executive of Prestwick since last March, is determined that the airport is not heading in the same direction. For a man with a tough challenge, he is unexpectedly upbeat. On the passenger side, he has been seeking to make up for losing city breaks to Edinburgh by turning Prestwick into a bigger player in so-called sunshine destinations.

“This was an opportunity that came up after the closures of FlyGlobespan and XL, both of which used Glasgow Airport,” he says. “Rather than try and fill the gap with other charter operators, we thought let’s try and encourage Ryanair to offer new destinations and increase existing ones to give us a better chance to increase our passenger numbers.”

The result has been decent increases to routes like Alicante and Palma. New routes like Faro and Gran Canaria have been added. In total, numbers to the airport’s top six sunshine destinations are up 30%. “Sunshine” now make up 40% of all passenger destinations, twice that of a couple of years ago (albeit partly because of European “city” routes falling away). The airport is hiring 90 seasonal staff to handle demand, essentially temporarily hiring back most of the workers it axed last year.

“If we do well over the summer,” adds Cochrane, “it will demonstrate that Prestwick can be successful in that sector and will give us the opportunity to make the case for more capacity. There are still destinations we don’t serve, like in Turkey.”

That might not be quite on a par with winning a new airline to add to Ryanair and Polish player Wizz – Prestwick’s Holy Grail in recent years – but it would certainly help. In total, despite the promising signs, Ryanair’s Prestwick flights for the summer are still down from 136 last year to 107.

With passenger flights making up 60% of the business, freight makes up 15%, predominantly from aircraft engines for GE, which has a base at the adjacent business park, and from oil and gas equipment (the rest of Prestwick’s approximately £15m turnover comes from aircraft parking and maintenance at its hangars and refuelling military planes).

Prestwick has always been one of the main UK airports for freight because it has a very long runway and a good reputation for handling loads that are very heavy or wide. Cochrane says that the airport’s freight tonnages are still not far from the bottom of the cycle, but he can point to seven straight months of consecutive growth and a 5% increase year on year. “We are buoyant,” he says. “We are looking to grow from that base.”


This all helps to move the airport back to profitability. On the other hand, Prestwick is having to contend with the expensive price of fuel and the fact that airlines have to join the European emissions trading scheme next year.

The big question is how long Infratil will keep funding a loss-making airport. Cochrane says the owner is in it for the long haul, believing that the prospects are good for the British market. Irrespective of the green stigma against air travel and the eventual prospect of high-speed rail, there is still a general view in the industry that passenger numbers can grow substantially ahead of GDP. Less vested interests are not so sure, but such beliefs at least prevent calamitous contractions of the balance sheets of airport owners until they are proven wrong.

The future of the airport will also be heavily influenced by what happens at Glasgow Airport. In the next few weeks the Competition Commission will publish its final ruling on the BAA break-up, where it is expected to insist on the sale of either Edinburgh or Glasgow. Although no final decision has been taken, Glasgow will almost certainly go. Cochrane reckons it is too early to say what this will mean for his airport, but Louise Congdon is in no doubt.

“A new owner can only mean increased competition for Prestwick,” she says. “For whatever reason, BAA has chosen to promote growth at Edinburgh more than Glasgow. A new owner with only one airport in the central belt would behave differently.”

There have been rumours that Infratil could be among the bidders, which would neutralise this threat. But with numerous airport owners and other investors lining up to make bids, several sources say that the Competition Commission is likely to opt for a new competitor.

Whatever the future holds for Prestwick, it is facing these tough times with the same three-word moniker as before. Cochrane says there are no plans to change branding at present. If there are to be more Pure Dead Brilliant times at Prestwick, there are plenty of other things to worry about in the meantime.


Coming to the end of the runway? - Herald Scotland | Business | Analysis
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Old 30th May 2011, 20:29
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My wife was travelling through PIK with my sister-in=law on Friday. On entering security with hand luggage my SIL presented her clear bag with liquids to the security officer, only to be told "wrong bag". She attempted to reason to him that she had travelled through a number of airports recently with the same bag and had experienced no problems elsewhere. The officer, full of conversation only ever uttered two syllabels throughout the conversation, repeating "wrong bag" on a number of occasions. He then insisted she go back out of security and purchase a correct bag costing £1 from the machine outside security.

Nothing unusual in ths you might say - if the bag was incorrect, it was incorrect.

However, it just so happened at the same time as this was happening the next passenger was told by the adjoining security officer that his bag did not meet the criteria also. However, in this instance, the officer handed the gentleman a bag from behind the counter and asked the gentleman to transfer his liquids to the new bag before waving him through.

It also transpired that my niece who was travelling also had the same bag as her mother but forgot to take it out of her hand luggage and it passed through the X-ray machine without comment.

Whilst I am aware rules are rules and the officer may have been strictly within his rights, I think this is yet another example of the infamous customer service, or lack of it, that some of the staff at PIK are all too often demonstrating. The airport has enough to worry about economically without passengers getting such a negative experience. Management need to tackle this poor attitude in a minority of staff.
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Old 30th May 2011, 21:44
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Liquids

Not just PIK.

I went through BHX in April with all our liquids in two bags but we were stopped, as the bags were too big and security provided the "correct" ones free of charge. They also spotted my daughter's face cream, which was 200ml although the size was hidden behind a sticky bar code (I hadn't noticed it packed, as it looked more 100ml).

Security were very pleasant and efficient although if they had charged me, I would have asked exactly where on the website it gives the dimensions of the bags - I had checked the night before and I could not find it.

Also I too have got drink through (not on purpose) at non-uk airports without it being spotted.

I never mind being stopped or pulled up about these things as long as it is done politely although the size of a see-through bag is a bit

Pete
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Old 9th Jun 2011, 18:33
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Ryanair has today announced that they are dropping Girona and Stansted from the winter 2011/2012 schedule. There is also a reduction on days of operation to many other destanaitions compared to winter 2010/2011


Blow for travellers as Prestwick flights axed - Evening Times | News
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Old 26th Jul 2011, 10:08
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Kingfisher plane.

Does anyone know about the Kingfisher jet that's been sitting at Prestwick for the past week or so? It looks like a Boeing 727 or Tupolev Tu-154 (I'm a bit rubbish at telling planes apart from a distance) and is sitting near the knackered 747...
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Old 26th Jul 2011, 10:36
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http://www.egpk.com/

It's a B727 if it's this one , very nice too.

Note : If the link takes you to some completely different photo it's only because they've updated the front page and not that I can't tell a B727 from a <insert current front page> !!! No really.

Incidentally can someone say yay or nay to the following schedules per week:

Cargolux 3 x weekly
Air France Cargo 2 x weekly

Are we really down to FIVE scheduled B744Fs a week through?

Last edited by Skipness One Echo; 26th Jul 2011 at 16:04.
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Old 26th Jul 2011, 16:22
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The spectators gallery has been re-opened at PIK and is free to use. Shame the airport isn't the busiest, but it's a good sign that they are welcoming enthusiasts with an official spot once again.

Spectators Gallery| Glasgow Prestwick Airport

I wonder if any other airports will follow?
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Old 26th Jul 2011, 20:06
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The Malmo football team that are playing Rangers tonight in the Champions league qualifier flew in through PIK yesterday.
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Old 26th Jul 2011, 21:59
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The Cargolux schedule is 5 weekly - 3 eastbound and 2 westbound. Some weeks only one westbound - seems to depend on engines being flown to Seattle. Sadly the only other scheduled freighters are Air France with 2 eastbound flights most weeks, usually 747's but occasionally 777.
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Old 6th Aug 2011, 15:24
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This seems to be a bit of a strange one, Balkans.com are reporting that Ryanair are interested in operating flights from Stansted and Prestwick to Podgorica. Apparently the flights are to operate year-round. Details available at the link below..

Balkans.com Business News : Ryanair is likely to begin flights to Podgorica, Montenegro in September

As Montenegrin Airlines have suspended their Gatwick operations, STN makes a bit of sense, but I can't see PIK working year round. Summer maybe as Montenegro is an up and coming tourist destination but would the demand be there?
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Old 6th Aug 2011, 15:36
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You can ski in Montenegro, but I would have thought that it was much more a summer destination. Tivat would be better for British tourists going to the Montenegran coast.
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Old 15th Aug 2011, 10:45
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Polar Hangar

I was down Shawfarm the other day and noticed a bit of activity at the old Polar hangar, doors wide open and a fair bit of movement.
Has management finally secured a new tennent for it or is it just giving it a wee spruce up?
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Old 23rd Aug 2011, 20:33
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British Airways Engineering to Lease Prestwick Hangar

BRITISH Airways has leased the former Polar Air cargo engineering hangar at Prestwick Airport as a satellite facility for its engineering base at Glasgow Airport.

British Airways Engineering to Lease Prestwick Hangar | Glasgow Prestwick Airport
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Old 23rd Nov 2011, 04:40
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So shocking I do wonder if there is more to this.

Prestwick needs every penny/passenger it can get.
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