PRESTWICK

[12-30 Wind Sock]

G'day mates. The positives are that pik cant get any worse that it is just now. The only way is onwards and upwards. Im not one of the many negative people on here just making up random stories. The facts are that not one person on here has hard facts to back up there post. Its always " i have a reliable source " watch this space. Its all a joke. I just want these people to come back on and apologise in october or whenever when these stories dont come true.

Too much negativity on here about pik. People really have sad lifes if they spend all day posti ng negative stories about pik. If you aint interested in pik then dont post BS lies. If you do care about pik then lets be positive about it.

Elvis will be turning in his grave at the comments.

[Skipness One Echo]

If you honestly think PIK couldn't get any worse then you don't recall the rave in the terminal or the racing cars on Apron B.....

Positivity might help you but it has no relation to the performance of the business. The Scottish Government will have some decisions to make soon, underwriting a business to make MOL even wealthier is not going to be an outcome acceptable to many, PIK no longer generates much inbound tourism remember, it's now just the sun routes.
So if they need to avoid closure, what are the *realistic* options being looked at?

[12-30 Wind Sock]

Skippy why u mentioning closure ?. Your posts are perfect to back up my post regarding negativity. You serously think the SG would would close somewhere that generates millions to scottish economy. Your mad. Things wont change overnight. People need to calm down and be patient. As for the raves and flights pik had in past, can people firgdt about the past and look to the future. You cant change it or go back in time with doc brown in the dlorean.

[Granite City Express]

People need to calm down and be patient.

Meanwhile £200k per week of taxpayers money gets thrown at the place, subsidising Ryanair's operations.

Why should we be patient? Did the SG have a plan before they bought the place?

[Skipness One Echo]

I'm not mad.
This was the 90s, the recent past. I use the example to show how close the airport came to closure before it was sold to ACAP.
It does generate substantial benefit to the local Ayrshire economy but it also costs a lot of money before it does. It costs way more to deliver the benefits than it currently generates, hence it's a loss making black hole. Right now you can bet a cost/benefit analysis is being undertaken to look at closing all passenger ops and right sizing what remains. That way the economy keeps the airfield, training, cargo, tech stops and mainteneance and loses the Ryanair cost burden. Government gets to "save" PIK and a good deal for taxpayer as losses are brought under control. If it is not being looked at then it's just politicians frittering away more of someone elses money for votes.
I lived through semi closure last time btw, if you don't understand how close it came and what was done to narrowly avoid it, all the positivity on Earth won't help you.

[rob39]

Airport currently asking locals to complete survey

Airport Conducts Travel Demand Survey | Glasgow Prestwick Airport

and a one off flight to Antalya

Avro Offers Flights to Antalya from Glasgow Prestwick | Glasgow Prestwick Airport

[12-30 Wind Sock]

subsidising Ryanair's operations ? i dont think ryanair rely on PIK, I dont think SG did have a plan before buying PIK. Thats why they have hired someone to go in for a few months and see what needs to be changed. As for being patient , SG saved Jobs and saved millions of pounds that PIK brings into scotland which in turn saves other jobs linked with PIK. If 200k a week is true then the rumour of too many manager and middle managers at pik will be under pressure to keep there jobs.

Skippy Your talking 20 years ago i wouldnt say that was recent past. Closing passenger ops just wont happen , FACT. There aint enough training, cargo, tech stops or mainteneance to rely on . Please note this is not the 90's.

Yes i agree it was close to being closed , But to constantly be negative about the place is out of order. Infratil ruined the place by employing too many staff and employing staff that have brought zero new airlines into the airport. These staff picked up a wage for years without actually doing anything for the airport. Plus the fact that each department has managers who manage managers who mangers who then report to manager who report to there manager.

Its not PIK fault that the SG bought the Airport, so if you have any black hole worries and wasting tax payers money , Please dont post on here , Try Sending a Letter to the SG. They might listen to you

[Skipness One Echo]

subsidising Ryanair's operations ? i dont think ryanair rely on PIK

No but you are well aware PIK rely on Ryanair who can and do insist on paying next to zero and scaring off any new entrants.

Skippy Your talking 20 years ago i wouldnt say that was recent past. Closing passenger ops just wont happen , FACT. There aint enough training, cargo, tech stops or mainteneance to rely on . Please note this is not the 90's.

Socky, I am well aware it's not the 1990s, the market is a lot tougher.... What makes you think passenger operations won't be closed as then, like my dad whenever he was losing, announced his opinion loudy as "FACT"? It is not the reponsibility of the taxpayer to subsidise low cost outbound airline operations, arguably illegal given there's a profitable and commercially viable and similar operation nearby. What's your understanding of PIK's inability to hang onto Wizzair? It's a nonsense that the government can hold onto and underpin a long term loss making business that's having an impact on an actual viable and profitable business in the same market at GLA.
Fair point that you don't like overmanagement, most don't, however there's a much larger strategic issue here. Ryanair's claim to be adding millions to the bottom line around inbound tourism fell apart when they kicked all of that across to EDI and went head to head with GLA for the outbound locals to the sun market.

I am genuinely keen to hear what the real options are, because that terminal is on the verge of falling down and the business needs serious investment to compete for any more passengers at all, and I cannot for the life of me see any return on that money.

[12-30 Wind Sock]

My name is Sockrates , not socky , Please dont call me that or i will tell my DAD " FACT " .

I am unsure why wizzair left PIK , I dont know if they just decided they were better off at GLA, Which in my opinion might come back to haunt them. I do agree that the ryanair deal at PIK is madness and whoever signed that deal at the start should be sacked due to the fact that ryanair hardly paying a penny for the use of PIK. Although its hard to know if ryanair had left PIK years ago would the airport still be open or would it have brought in more airlines. Nobody knows.. not even marty mcfly.

If you think the tax payer is subsidising ryanair then complain to the SG. The SG may have to subsidise for a while yet until the masterplan for the future is publishes and the forward for Pik to make a profit and return to taxpayers, Which may take 5 , 10 , 15 or 20 years.

I agree with the terminal , I think to attract new business either a new terminal needs to be invested in solely for new airlines. It really all depends on the report the SG receives from Mr Pye . My opinion is that PIK can be turned around and will make profit in future thanks to SG or it would have closed like Kent which proabably proves infratil nearly shut down 2 airports with theyre mismanagement.

[Granite City Express]

Kent Manston is still very much open.

Stocky i am not sure which planet you are on but PIK is going to be sucking down taxpayers money for many years to come partly due to lack of investment and mainly due to a lack of imagination and leadership.

The main terminal is a 1950s design and is heated by oil with all the insulating capacity of a colander. That must cost a fortune in itself.

Cargo is reliant on Cargolux who seem to stagger from one financial difficulty to another and Air France who are not in the best of health either. The minor increases in pax and cargo numbers are not going to be down to the management team, more likely due to organic growth.

BBC News - Nicola Sturgeon: Return on Prestwick 'could take years'

[EI-BUD]

PIK airport is a huge financial risk above and beyond its current performance in my view. Only a matter if time until FR look to GLA for a slice of the business routes and then what?

Too reliant on a few carriers for pax and cargo

[The Hypnoboon]

Just an observation here, but I flew from Prestwick at the weekend there. The internals of the terminal seemed in pretty reasonable nick. However that may have been like trying to fix a decapitation with a couple of elastoplasts as externally, it looked pretty grim.

It's going to be interesting to see what Romaine Py comes up with, but unless there's some serious investment, I think the terminal's future could be shaky at best.

[12-30 Wind Sock]

Hey Sheepy , Im actually from Pluto , Thanks for asking .

[Flying.Penguin]

Making impetuous remarks such as “passenger operations will never close” and presenting them as “fact” is somewhat naive. For a start, it is obviously not a fact under any definition of the word, if HAH Glasgow and RYR shake hands today there is next to nothing anyone at EGPK can do to stop RYR moving lock, stock and barrel to EGPF.

As I’ve said before RYR are moving into the business of serving more mainstream airports and providing far greater business friendly routes, frequencies and flight times. Shifting from EGPK to EGPF fits with RYR’s new business plan, pan Europe, so why would they as a business treat a tiny corner on the fridges of Europe, which is Scotland, differently from everywhere else?

MYT consolidated all Scottish flights and moved everything it had from EGPK to EGPF, REA moved its EGPK flights to EGPF and has since reaped the rewards, and more recently WZZ moved its four weekly Polish flights from EGPK to EGPF. It just takes one more airline to follow these three recent examples and suddenly you have the reality of EGPK being closed to passenger operations.

I’ve worked in this industry long enough to know what might be “fact” on Monday can be “history” by Tuesday.

[ScotsSLF]

"a tiny corner on the fridges of Europe" ? You've been in DXB too long FP.

Anyway I think most of us realise that PIK's future lies in non-PAX or limited PAX ops so this discussion is getting a bit tedious.

[Facelookbovvered]

I have no wish to be insensitive to the many people who depend on PIK for a job but the bottom line is it is on Government funded life support, they probably can't close it whilst the current contract with Ryanair is in force without paying a substantial penalty in costs to FR and you can bet that the contract writing staff at FR have done a far better job than PIK ex or current management.

I can't see it staying open past Burns' day, if the SNP get a yes vote they will not be able to fund it along with all the other promises, if its a NO vote it will be closed and they will blame a) the UK Government for not funding it b) The Scots for not voting YES.

It's always someone else's fault where Scottish Government is concerned

[ScotsSLF]

It's Burns' Day and it will be open after Referendum Day and probably for quite a few Burns' days after that. PIK will find its niche as an airfield, (whatever that looks like) and in time will become profitable again. And FLB your anti-Scottish Government comments aren't really adding any value to the thread.

[Facelookbovvered]

ScotsSLF

Yep your right, what ever it looks like it won't look like an airport, try housing, if the Scottish Government are willing to stump up what £50m? £100m? £200m? then good luck to them, divide that by the population who already have a perfectly functioning privately owned airport up the road, apart from vanity whats the point, who pays?

[Skipness One Echo]

FLB you've clearly no idea of what happened to get PIK to where they are. They have a rather busy non scheduled passenger and cargo operation that the business needs to be (again) right sized to serve profitably. Ryanair would appear to be flirting with GLA anyway which might be a good thing in the long run.
Back to the core operation of freight, adhoc passenger flights, training and transit stops ought to be possible if the right team is put in place. As for housing, well methinks you've been spending too much time on the Teesside thread.

I am hardly pro SNP but all parties realised that PIK was a strategic asset that the taxpayer built and funded, and an attempt ought to be made to prevent it's permanent loss. They got it for a token one pound cost, it's a good decision that if handled well is good for the medium and long term Scottish national interest. You're mistaking for Ayrshire for South Wales I think.....

You've got previous form on here for trolling and making nonsense statements to get a reaction, please desist, it's poor form and just shows you up for your lack of basic understanding and knowledge.

so why would they as a business treat a tiny corner on the fridges of Europe

You have a cold heart...
Actually Ryanair do offer many split city operations, so be careful with "Lock, stock and barrel."
Barcelona is served by REU, GRO and BCN.
Brussels by CRL and BRU
Rome by FCO and CIA.
The hope PIK have is the four bay B737 maintenance base. We shall see....

[PIK3141]

A number of you will be saddened to learn that this year has seen a substantial increase in freight, Cargolux adding 2 sched and some weeks 1 further non sched to their schedules, Air France have restored their schedule, and the AN12s AN124s and IL76s visiting regularly.

With Ryanair I don't think the routes listed by SOE could be described as business friendly routes. And why have Ryanair loaded their Dublin winter schedule showing PIK when they are moving to GLA on Oct 14th so we're told as 'FACT' ?

In short those of us who know the airport are waiting to see what comes from the Py review which will presumably reduce the cost base, and what comes next in terms of hangars, the lease of the Polar hangar and heaven forbid, another passenger airline ?

Those of you who don't know the airport, or think you do but don't, would be well placed to cease your trolling and let events take their course, which will not be a housing estate since South Ayrshire Council will not grant planning permission for that.