Yes its good that Ryanair or GLA management have informed CC of this move to GLA, so that CC can inform the rest of us. Presumably Ryanair are happy to accept the higher airport charges and extended fuel burn routings. Or with the deal they will have got, BA, Easyjet, Jet 2 et all should be delighted with the lower fees they will pay.

This certainly falls into place with RYR’s new business practise of serving more mainstream airports. With RYR now flying from and expanding at EBBR, LGAV and LIRF as opposed to these cities secondary airports, it was, in my opinion, only a matter of time till EGPF followed.

Setting aside local tribal warfare for a moment, given FR tend to park a large part of the fleet in the winter, this would be a curious time to start a new base or city, particularly given the seasonality of the Scottish market. Does the rumour suggest inbound non based and do we have an inkling of a city / sun route focus?
Go back a few years and it was far from that though. Classy first post btw.
OK clutching at straws with the last one there....
Glasgow is commutable from Ayrshire, it really, really is. Look there won't be a cataclysm if and when FR pitch up at GLA, life will go on, as it does at EDI, as it does at BHX and all the other similar airports. The missing bit here is whether this is the beginning of the end for FR at PIK. THAT's the worry. If PIK cannot hold onto Wizz Air on cost alone, on Ryanair of all people on cost alone, then what in the name of Heaven are they competing WITH? Is it time to get out of the passenger market? I say that as a longt time supporter of PIK but everything is currently pointing to the last few years of growth as a bubble and the collapse at GLA as a blip.

That's an appalling statement. Please explain yourself Mr Curry and try to rise above your usual Glasgow diss. People's livelihoods are at stake here at PIK, and indeed at GLA if Ryanair move there.

I have zero knowledge as to whether these rumours about FR moving in part or in total from PIK to GLA are true. However, if I were the MD/Commercial Director at GLA I would be moving heaven and earth to get FR out off PIK and into GLA as achieving that could well end PIK's status as a scheduled pax airport and lead to the terminal being mothballed (or demolished). Then I would not have new airlines trying to play off GLA vs PIK costwise and I could stop looking over my shoulder at Ayrshire (and just look over the other shoulder at EDI!)

What's the strategic value to FR of keeping a weak and highly dependent PIK still alive with a handful of FR passenger services ?
GLA may well offer an amazingly good deal for the next 2 years, but would FR lose their negotiating position of strength such that in 2 years time FR end up paying near full price airport charges along with their maintenance base possibly ceasing to be viable ?
Of course this has to be weighed against the higher fares that can be charged or more passengers by virtue of operating at GLA rather than PIK

Govt may own the airport but politics can lead to unusual things happening that would not necessarily be done for purely commercial interests. Long term mothballing is one option...

What chances of a PIK /GLA alliance aimed at focusing PAX at GLA with all other main aviation activities such as cargo / mail / maintenance etc etc at PIK? If I were Amanda whatshername I would be looking at all possibilities to put the squeeze on EDI. I immediately hear Mr Curry calling "foul!"

"Political Fix"!:=

Can someone explain the benefit of fr moving too gla and what effect would this have on the existing airlines at gla?

The benefit of them moving to a GLA is likely similar to that of their moves to other main airports like BCN, FCO, BRU etc - they open themselves up to pax who aren't keen on secondary airports (i.e. a lot of biz pax) and can often get higher yields too. On a lesser note, I would also perhaps suggest that some city routes with higher inbound balance are more marketable to GLA then PIK - GLA is more of a realistic substitute for EDI and also offers better access to the Highlands than PIK.

Wrt to people saying that a move to GLA would result in a "war" with EZY/LS/Charters - This rather misses the point that FR's PIK ops are obviously in competition with these carriers GLA flights now.

"Political Fix"!:="

Really? What? - two commercial organisations pulling together to create a synergy that could potentially result in both organisations growing and creating profit? Perish the thought! I take it "Star Alliance" & "One World" are political fixes? The world is full of organisations pulling together to take on the competition - and whilst it is doubtful that such a PIK / GLA alliance might even be considered (given the level of capability & ingenuity that seems to exist in airport management these days) you just never know.:cool:

Mr C - you really need to remove that very large chip from your obviously under pressure shoulders.

Remind us who owns PIK?

And do you think that in the run up to the independence referendum the Scottish Government are going to antagonise the good citizens of the east?

Anyway, the hypocrisy is astounding - happy to take all the benefits of the parliament being based in Edinburgh (would EDI have grown to the extent it has done if the parliament was in Glasgow?) but the minute there's money invested in the West there's the usual Curry 'pebble dash'. :*

Moving back to matters PIK - it has been very quiet on the management front in that there appear to have been no announcements in terms of who has been trusted to run the organisation. Is it the old Infratil management who are either useless or were made to operate in a useless fashion by Infratil? If the latter is true then perhaps this is a chance for them to 'shake off the shackles' and show they are up to the job of turning the airfield around (PAX or no PAX) but I am amazed by the lack of 'vision' and 'noise' coming from them.

Once, just once, can you *try* and post something that isn't tribal, divisive and a grudge from a previous century? Commercially and legally there has to be a distance between the PIK management and the government. It's no more the SNP's toy than HIAL is. Mr Salmond is not running PIK.

Talking of management, Romain Py has been appointed to explore opportunities for Prestwick on a 3 month contract.
Py hired to advise Holyrood about Prestwick | Herald Scotland

That’s a good point and I've often wondered how much weight they would attach to this issue.

Let’s assume that Ryanair move all their Prestwick operations to Glasgow and that Prestwick’s terminal closes as a result. The instant that happens, Ryanair’s future negotiating position is weakened as they’ll be serving both of the surviving passenger airports in the central Scotland market. They’ll therefore have no airports in that market to play off against each other and have no negotiating stance with either Edinburgh or Glasgow other than ‘we’re off if you don’t give us what we want’. Each airport would know that if Ryanair carried through with that threat, they’d be ceding the market to their competitors.

By contrast, their current negotiating position is as strong as it can ever be. They serve two airports in a three-airport market, meaning that they have the threat of moving their operations to the unserved airport to keep the other two on their toes. I wouldn’t pretend to know the details of their thinking on this matter, but I note that their public comments about Prestwick are often quite conciliatory which makes we wonder if they’ve realised that it’s in their strategic market-wide interest that a passenger terminal at Prestwick remains open.

Interesting few months ahead.

In the words of Stelios?, "MSP's would hardly fill half-a-plane"

But everyone agrees that Prestwick's current terminal is ancient, falling apart, too big and not fit for purpose. So if the sole determinant of all of this is M O'L scratching his ba's of a morning, as seems to be the fashionable conclusion nowadays, then surely closure of the terminal gives FR - having moved to Glasgow - a major opportunity to say to the Scottish Govt "build a wee portacabin and we're back". So it doesn't reduce their clout at all.

But god help us if public ownership of the airport gets us nothing more than a slight delay in presenting our a***s to M O'L to be shafted.

NS

I'm not. They have been wrecking the airport for years and are being rewarded for that effort by errrm, being left in charge... :ugh:

The Scottish Government had a chance to take the airport, shake it up and make it complimentary to GLA & EDI. The management team don't have any imagination or commercial nouse. They seem to prefer empty hangars and warehouses to businesses operating there. :rolleyes:

They make must more money out of car parking than anything otherwise they wouldn't have bought out everyone that has tried to set up a car park in the area.

I'll bet the ex-JP Morgan man is costing Transport Scotland at least a grand a day, but that kind of pales into insignificance to the 200k per week they must be pouring into the PIK black hole.

1300 Low cost hub 1431 Coffin corner 1505 Piks black hole. But first it's name. Please see ICAO doc 8126 or CAP 168 chapter 1.10.2. The aerodrome name should indicate the name in capitals of the city or town which it serves followed by an oblique and the name given to the aerodrome by the state concerned. CAP168, CAAs Licensing of Aerodromes requires airport operators to make an aerodrome available to all persons on equal terms and conditions. New airlines and/or routes will enjoy whatever terms the CX made available to our Irish friends - thereby continuing the coffin corner. Prestwicks terms and conditions require airlines to pay £8.15 per domestic departing pax and £10.89 per international plus £2.15 security. That ALONE (excl landing,nav,apron services,handling and parking charges)should have produced around £6m from 1.1m terminal pax so the discounts must be really deep. The year that "Open Skies" shafted Prestwick, BAA which some seem to have forgotten owned and operated the airport, made an overall profit in excess of £5 M from a terminal pax throughput of 318,000.- and that after the required HO contribution Ah PIK, Seaboard cl44s MAC117s and Emeralds twin astazous shutting down on an otherwise empty apron