The 744(G-CIVD) that diverted in was to PIK not GLA, and was LHR-LAX .

Unless you are talking about a different occasion that I am not aware of:confused:

Kpiko3

As I recall, the PIK stop for aircraft flying from GLA to the US was entirely political; Prestwick had been designated as Scotland's transatlantic airport some time earlier.
For much of the last thirty years, the Scottish airports' biggest enemies have been each other... :(

I don't recall the BOAC, Pan-am, Air Canada, Northwest etc flights that used to operate from Prestwick as operating from there for political reasons.

Prestwick was designated as Scotlands transatlantic gateway, so any tx flights had to fly from PIK.
Once this was removed, we saw NW, AC etc quickly changing their flights to GLA

Hopefully this won't degenrate into another GLA v PIK thread! Anyhow, there were definitely restrictions on transatlantic flights from GLA after airlines moved from PIK in the early 90s. I distinctly remember my honeymoon flight from GLA to Boston just after NW had moved from PIK. While sitting awaiting push back the pilot announced that 'due to the length of Glasgow's runway and the atmospheric conditions, I can either leave 40 passengers behind or fuel stop at Shannon...' We fuel stopped at Shannon!

There were and are obviously limitations to what can operate and I remember some NW flights had to fuel-stop on-route. However, I don't think it was regular. In terms of the current regular long-haul operations from GLA the runway doesn't seem to cause any problems - I've haven't heard of flights having to refuel any time recently. If it was as significant a problem as some people seem to be attempting to suggest then surely the airlines in question would have moved to PIK long ago.

The argument about 747s seems slightly beside the point - I can't see a regular long-haul scheduled service being busy enough to justify a 747, whether it was operating from GLA or PIK. This is rather shown by the fact that current long-haul ops from GLA are operated by 767/A330, which have capacities far more suited to the routes being operated.

As is stated earlier in the thread, until about 1990 PIK was designated as Scotland tx "gateway" and as a result all tx flights up to that time had to land at PIK - whether or not GLA could handle them was irrelevant as they were legally obliged to use PIK no matter what.

An unfortunate aspect of the fight to allow the other Scotish airports to gain transatlatic flights is that all of the airlines leading the campaign gave up flying from Glasgow soon after being given the right. At least this allowed other airlines the opportunity when the likes of BA and United gave up and now Continental are providing a good year round service.

"the fact that current long-haul ops from GLA are operated by 767/A330"

EK will upgrade to a 360seat Boeing 777-300 from the 1st of October and flights on the 1st and 2nd of April will be operated by 777-300 due to heavy bookings for the start of the school holidays.

Short memory R31 ?, the airlines at the forefront of the campaign to move from PIK to GLA were Air Canada and Air2000, both of whom still op from GLA. BA only played at serving a tx destination from GLA as they are only interested in LHR, just like Virgin. United only appeared at GLA in later years, they did NOT operate at the time of the changeover from GLA to PIK!

Agreed billy some like Air 2000 still serve their charter routes and I commend them for that. United were at the forefront of the campaign and soon dropped the route like Heathrow Airlines did. Air Canada don't operate during the winter but did when they operated through Prestwick not on 1 route but on 2. Halifax and Toronto.

All I am saying is that it is unfortunate that the airlines who campaigned for the right soon gave it up when they got it. More power to the likes of Continental who have proved that transatlantic services are viable from Scotland.

There is not a hope in hell that Virgin will serve Glasgow. They are only interested in cherry picking the most profitable routes not in starting from a reasonable base and working upwards.

Emirates will also put a 777-300 into GLA on April 17th, might be a few more in April/May also,

virgin interested
 

I read an article in the scotland on sunday over the past few weeks (sorry I forgot what date) regarding Virgin Atlantic's intention to start services from Glasgow Airport (although were considering Edinburgh as well). It was quite a lengthy article and they had obviously done their homework!

In regards to 747's - I can remember regular Air Canada 747 service to YYZ, Nationair and Air Club (two now defunct Canadian charter companies) - in fact one day all three were in at once back in the mid 90's.

If my memory serves me right, when the tx restrictions were in place Air 2000 would depart from GLA and either do a touch and go or stop start at PIK to cut through the red tape!

Correct me if I'm wrong, maybe I dreamt it.

Air 2000 did operate their Orlando flight via PIK when it started.

Don't think it was a touch and go. I think they changed the crew their. They only did this for the first season as the rule had been removed by the following year.

I belive it was Air 2000 who were the main instigators in getting the rules changed (i believe Mr Boyle was involved with them then).

Its the charter airlines who decide where there aircraft go and when, its up to the tour operators to fill them.