Granted pkman747, however the core business at PIK in terms of a/c movements is pax.

Given the lack of revenue from their main passenger customer, they're not in a position to offer their potential fuel stops dirt cheap landing fees and fuel. Tis a Catch 22.

PIK Freighters
 

Who, What, When are the scheduled freighters out of PIK now.

Current scheduled freighters are twice weekly Air France from Chicago to Paris, twice weekly Atlas (Panalpina) Huntsville to Luxembourg and six Cargolux (four eastbound and two westbound to Seattle).

Have BA World Cargo pulled out of PIK?

On the BBC Scotland website:-


Up to 120 jobs are to go at Prestwick Airport as a result of the economic downturn.
Staff were informed of the redundancies at a meeting this afternoon. It follows a consultation with unions. Management at the airport confirmed last month that it was running at a loss and announced a business review.

Etc.

I also suggest the whinging and blaming on this thread has been done to death, and there's no great need for this news to spark another round of it.

honest man
 

How about they restore the Prestwick International Airshow or start a gliding club on runway 21/03?

After today's announcement I don't think your wish will be granted......... hold on a minute, maybe the airlines will get together and realise that honest man would like to see more aircraft at PIK and start flying in extra empty aircraft. GPIA could then re-open the spectators gallery for honest man and other spotters, the potential earnings for the airport would be amazing. I wish I had thought of that :ugh:.

On a more serious note, PIK-AGP has dropped from 3 to 2x weekly as of April, I am sure there will be others to follow. I heard MOL was in yesterday telling the pilots of the reductions etc, apparently four of them flew in on a 737-800 with a full crew, they are meant to be flying around all the bases in europe having meetings with the pilots on their "private" 737. I guess if they are on an FR flight number and call sign they'll get their free/cheap landing fees. Probably cheaper in the longrun than chartering a biz jet.

The BA World Cargo flights only operated through PIK because they were originating in Frankfurt and the rules in force at that time required a stop in the UK before proceeding to the USA. After realising that they were trucking cargo from PIK to STN they got consent to load here but of the three weekly flights only the Wednesday service ever seemed to have an uplift. The new "Open Skies" situation resulted in a review and since October they now fly direct from Frankfurt to the States.

"On a more serious note, PIK-AGP has dropped from 3 to 2x weekly as of April, I am sure there will be others to follow"

Last week I tried to book a flight from Prestwick to Malaga departing on a Saturday in July but I couldn't. I just presumed that the flight was full. I wonder how the load factors on their routes in and out of Edinburgh are compared to those at Prestwick.

Smith whats the personal attacks about i only made a statement and i dont have anytime for the people who run it as i think they are killing it

Prestwick - Aircraft Maintenance.
 

Am I right in thinking that Ryanair were using the Polar hangar as and when required?

How full do the hangars look?

At least aircraft maintenance is increasing at Prestwick, I also hear that more recruiting of engineers is on the cards.

The Polar hangar is empty most of the time. Recently two pairs of RAF Tucanos on consecutive nights, and occasionally an overflow Ryanair 737.
30 to 40 staff from the Polar hangar joined the Ryanair hangar when the former closed, I believe. That manned up the 2nd Ryanair bay, and with the tail sticking out, a 3rd 737 can be worked on ''inside'' the Ryanair hangar. At this time of year there's often a 737 parked outside all day.
I'd be surprised if there was to be a substantial increase in jobs, Mr MOL has / had a dispute with the local council about rates, so the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Ryanair hangars up to the tower didn't happen. You would think instead that the Polar hangar would be ideal for Ryanair location wise.

Sorry HM, believe it or not I am a pilot, I also have a great affinity for PIK and also would like to see more aircraft fly from PIK, however airlines cannot run on sentiment alone and nostalgia won't pay the mortgage. Just when the airline industry is in a pretty bad way and many people are losing their jobs I thought your comment about seeing more aircraft at PIK was not well thought out, if you have any ideas on how you could bring this about in this climate I am sure PIK would be glad to hear of them. Apologies for the sarcasm, its the lowest form of wit they tell me:O

At least Ocean Sky seems to be doing well!
This as a result of the management actually going out into the big big world and making attempts to attract new business.

No problem Smith, correct think it was Tiger8 mentioned it a while ago that Oceansky have went out there and made an effort for buisness

Everyone needs to remember that until there is a change in circumstances then we all have to wait with high hopes and understand that the current management are doing what they can to keep the airport running at this moment in time! They are saving a big chunk of money with the night time reductions and with no business then I am sure everyone understands this is all they can do. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to see that there is no signs of improvement at the terminal and until something is done or perhaps a new owner is in place then it doesnt look likely this will change. In my opinion it wont happen for a wee while yet.

The recent changes to night ops between 0001 and 0559 have had no effect on operations. The airport have worked very well with all handling agents and the fire lads have been very good to us and providing a fire category upgrade when required.

You mean aside from allowing any night stopping fuel stops to b****r off somewhere that IS open? It's laughable to say it will have no effect, we all know how much traffic PIK used to get at all sorts of early hours.

Yes but before this change came in we were not getting any tech stops in the first place other than Antonovs and military which still continue so I dont believe it has had any effect on what we currently get. That was what resulted in the place going down to Cat 3 because we were not getting this business like we used to.

If any aircraft were not to stop at Prestwick because of this it would be a flight at very short notice when the fire service cannot accomodate. If they do things properly and read the Notam then they will book with their agent and get PPR to operate within these hours. It is working well enough with our operators, although I fully support an argument for the airport to be open 24H with full fire coverage.

SOE

Think you need to do a tad more research.......
US Military only require CAT 3 fire cover, no matter how many onboard so do the majority of cargo and positioning flights. The only stuff it would affect are passenger ops and they should be giving the airport lots of notice first.

I'm just left wondering what happened to the fabled war chest the company used to bang on about? With Ryanair going check-in-less the airport should be investing in the terminal to increase profit opportunities but no eveything is on hold, the company is keeping hold of its cash for now...... a mishievous person might suspect ulterior motives :*

Ooops. So just fire cover? Not ATC? Apologies all.