Didn't think Donald Trump had much input at PIK except for parking his 752 their.

Councillor demands for airport to 'dump Trump' (From Irvine Times)

Thankfully, an even bigger nonentity than The Donald himself.......:zzz:

Been in and out of PIK these past couple of days and noticed TCX G-WJAN either in the hanger or on the apron.

Been stored there since last month awaiting its fate.

Prior to leaving PIK this morning noticed several BA a319/20's parked up. Just winter storage??? Do BA they still have a maintenance contract at PIK

Short term winter storage - 6 in total I gather. Rumours are that BA may be back into the Polar Hanger later in the year but nothing confirmed.

Only 4 BA's. 2 are departing today earlier than planned (7th) due to tech aircraft elsewhere. The other 2 are planned to be here for the next few weeks at least.

New Prestwick boss: US pre-clearance and direct flights to London would help revive airport

http://eveningtimes.co.uk/news/14211194.New_Prestwick_boss__US_pre_clearance_and_direct_fli ghts_to_London_would_help_revive_airport/

<begin rant>

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-stewart-1885078
This guy cannot be serious. He's surely been in the industry too long to believe the words he's saying here....

Yup, you and every UK airport that serves the US.
Easier than PIK? He uses the SNN analogy but Ireland has way more daily directs to the US than Scotland.

SNN EI BOS JFK UA EWR ORD AA PHL DL JFK = 6
EDI AA JFK UA ORD EWR x 2 DL JFK = 5
GLA AA PHL UA EWR = 2

Even if you throw in the totality of Thomson, Thomas Cook and Virgin's US bound Scottish traffic, PIK would need to have transatlantic gateway status re-established to make this viable, and surely EDI or GLA is a better bet. The only airline who could make PIK-London viable is Ryanair, so again, incredible. I am staggered he think this is a realistic strategy, or more likely it's window dressing for public comsumption to show they're doing something. But gimme a break if he honestly thinks PIK will get US CBP status before any other airport that has an existing transatlantic operator. Completely fantastic.
US pre clearance has to be paid for and there has to be a major ROI to this. You would need the totality of Scotland-US each day to make this a credible proposition. Or potentially it's just fluff for the voters, but ina fight against GLA/EDI/MAN/BHX etc, what possible reason would the US CBP have to choose PIK? NWA wouldn't even come back to PIK in 1994 when they were offered the use of the airport for free. Come on!

They need to stop living in the past. The false monopoly of transatlantic "glory days" are never coming back, Ryanair now operate GLA-STN. If they are serious, they need to cut the business down to size, cut losses and stop chasing yesterdays rainbows.

</end rant>

SNN has the 2 A318 shuttles from LCY to JFK stopping too. All business class so they don't pick up too many locals but the fees they pay to the US CBP are another reason it's viable. No point in having it if it's going to cost the airport an arm and a leg.

Only 1 of the A318 preclears, 15-30pax 6 times a week have little effect.

Its also not open to locals.

Another five years of public money being thrown at it before an attempt to sell it off back to the private sector according to the article...

This doesn't even seem to be the same numpty that wanted PIK to become a hub for Intra-Scottish services

I have a cunning plan - these Scottish services along with the London and Transatlantic flights could all provide feed for the spaceport!?! :D

Positive read

In profile: Mike Stewart - business development director, Prestwick Airport - Daily Record

I like his optimism regarding freight, and to give him his due he seems to have used his contacts well.

His comments about passenger ops are laughable. He talks up this so called half a million Ayrshire and D&G population area. This would be an area that is economically stagnant, plus its fairly inaccurate. Areas like Dumfries have better access to GLA than PIK. Half a million for a so called regional airport is hardly much to boast about. Its significantly less than the catchment of smaller airports like BOH, EXT, SOU, NWI.

If Prestwick has a future it is not running commercial ops. Two flights again today as with many other days in Winter. More staff than passengers. Give it up.

I guess its a start though, something resembling semi sensible business aims coming from the airport.

"I guess its a start though, something resembling semi sensible business aims coming from the airport."

A first for sometime, Spoke with ground staff this evening and they feel optimistic.

Certainly don't feel the likes of TCX THOM will want to come here but potentially a company similar to Seguro could do well. It worked in the past and travellers as far as Edinburgh did travel to PIK in numbers.

Anyhow positive ideas coming from the airport and wish them well. Its always a pleasure coming in and out of PIK

Prestwick can have a place for cargo, maintenance, other miscellaneous ops.

The commercial passenger side is done though and continuing to chase it is going to mean ongoing major losses.

I live in D&G, and for a few people I know PIK is the main airport they use. At the end of the day it comes down to price and destination availability. If the flight they need is available from PIK, and at a good price, they will use the airport.

Having Ryanair there is certainly a bonus - for many people it's the first place they look when booking flights. I'd be curious to know what effect Ryanair experienced when they moved flights from PIK to GLA - how much has demand for those flights changed?

Despite the small population, Stewart quotes that this area made 1.6 million trips in 2013. That's a lot of business for the airport to be targeting, and is certainly enough to sustain some kind of passenger operations, especially combined with a share of the 5.9 million trips made by the central belt catchment area in the same year.

While it will never rival Edinburgh or Glasgow, it may be possible for the airport to carve out a niche passenger market. They should be able to persuade Ryanair to launch a few new flights, and a few charter flights should be viable too.

Glasgow airport would have given Ryanair a good deal to start flights from the airport - these deals typically only last 3 years, before the price rises closer to normal levels. That deal will be coming to an end soon, so we might see a few Ryanair destinations switching back to PIK if they don't get the deal they want from GLA.

But you've just pointed out the major flaw in the "passenger flights can work from Prestwick" argument. You suggest that Prestwick might have to buy back more Ryanair flights which can only mean the Scottish tax payer stumping up yet more money.

Good point, in those days they would cross the country for a good deal, nowadays that good deal is more likely to be available from EDI as well. Ryanair and easyJet etc killed that sort of business model. The only think PIK can compete against GLA on is cost, not one other thing. Dumfries and Galloway lies firmly in GLA's catchment area and with the critical mass of more destinations available, it will always take the lion's share, leaving PIK the scraps.

UK Outbound Market :
Thomson, Jet2, Thomas Cook, Virgin - all are happiliy using GLA with facilities like lounges with daylight and stands with airbridges. PIK cannot begin to offer this. TOM, TCX and LS have crew bases and history and see nothing in splitting ops or moving to PIK.

US Transatlantic :
UA, DL, AA not a chance, PIK cannot compete with GLA for premium business, it would use EDI before PIK

Canada Transatlantic :
Transat have a long history at GLA after moving out of PIK and need to compete with Rouge and Westjet who have joined the market. Westjet may have been an option but chose GLA. Potential others I have missed?

Inbound short haul :
Used to see Transavia once a week but ad-hoc business like this can't make a profit on PIK's cost base.

If you try and nail down who is even slightly likely to use PIK in this market for passengers, the list is vanishly small when GLA is up the road with competitive pricing and way better facilities.

All PIK can offer is "much cheapness" to Ayrshire outbound sun travellers and GLA is also all over that one.