Prestwick is a great airport, but I fear that if indeed Polar pull out it will be bad news all round...

Rumours of Ryanair 'downgrading' services over the next 18 months in favour of EDI (Just a story going round...) Hope this isnt the case...

The rumour mill at PIK is that all atlas / polar flights except the 2 panalpina operated aircraft finish on sunday 15th june , this and the non appearance of Cargoitalia for the last 2 weeks doesn`t look good for the freight side at PIK.
And the Polar / Atlas Hanger at PIK has been given a clourse date of 31st August 2008.
Rumour also has it that Seguro are cutting the number of charter flights in late july / august because of poor bookings !

Cargoitalia are probably finnished because Tradewinds have grounded there 747s PIK won some cargo award recently what a joke its obviously been the kiss of death

Tristar500
Why rumour-monger about Ryanair 'downgrading' service at PIK in favour of EDI when a week or so ago they announced 3 new PIK routes and 2nd daily Belfast ???

PIK is currently maxed out in the first wave of five aircraft so that's possibly whi future growth will have to come from EDI. PIK is full at peak times and that's not something I ever thought I'd say !

I wouldn't say that Edinburgh has got much in the way of spare capacity at peak times.

Edinburgh has some room in the terminal and has had a fair amount of capital investment in recent years with a modified terminal and a new pier. Prestwick got a coat of God awful purple paint and a new shop. Structurally it's still the same airport that opened in the mid 1960s!

I wonder if the seguro scaleback has anything to do with ryanair starting more holiday destinations??

The FR new routes are for winter while the Seguro cutbacks are in August. Doubt they are linked, though Seguro may or may not have to review their programme beyond the end of the summer in light off FR's new routes

PIK3141

This is a 'Rumour Network' isnt it :ugh:

Anyway its not really a cencern of mine if FR downgrade PIK, although I do think that PIK is a good airfield (have flown many hours in and out) and if FR did downgrade, then it wouldnt be so good for the Ayrshire community in general especially with the cargo issues that are going on right now...

FR have kept PIK going if we are to be honest, and any - if any - schedule reduction takes place over the next 18 months then obviously it isnt good news...

What more could the owners do to attract more / new business?

I sincerely hope that PIK continues to offer a large number of diverse services but time will tell.

Regret to confirm that all Atlas/Polar flights stop with effect from tomorrow with the exception of the two Panalpina services from Huntsville on Thursday and Saturday. (GTI601 & 603). Perhaps an opportunity for Air France or Cargolux to pick some additional freight.

The decision by Seguro to cut back in August is no great surprise as this tends to be a relatively quiet month out of Scotland. The aircraft will probably be used to support operations south of the border.

Prestwick - Budapest
 

Wizzair were rumoured to be interested in flying between Prestwick and Budapest some time ago. I wonder what are the chances of them (or any other airline) starting up this route now that Ryanair only fly there twice a week and will not be flying there for six weeks during November and December.

Zilch in this climate.

FRs' winter programme now shows a 3rd rotation between PIK and BHD on M W & F although the 3rd Wed one shows an arrival time from PIK of 2145 which is 15mins after BHDs' current closure time of 2130 - either a mistake or MOL knows something we don't.

I heard Ryanair's head bummer in Scotland (Kathryn ??) commenting on the receint speculation that Ryanair might quit Prestwick and move to Glasgow if and when Glasgow Airport gets sold by BAA. She said that Ryanair has no plans to quit Prestwick and that they are in talks about launching even more new routes next year. She also said that Ryanair has a great relationship with Prestwick Airport. Their relationship must have improved lately; not so long ago they said that all future expansion would be from Edinburgh rather than Prestwick.

I'm sure that Ryanair will move to wherever the deal is the best. If Glasgow is sold and becomes more competitive then Prestwick will need to react. How low can you go before its no longer viable?

Exactly! However, would the competition authorities get involved if Glasgow Airport's new owners set their charges for Ryanair too low, and be accused of anti competitive pricing? I think it would be a great shame if Prestwick Airport was ever forced to close leaving passengers with less choice and Glasgow Airport with less competition.

Think the seguro cutbacks went to Manston in august

What airlines are Seguro going to be using on there PMI flights next year anybody know?

Ork - Pik
 

Well done Aer Arann on moving quickly to replace FR on ORK and daily at that. Prices look reasonable also.