The key point here is the West Coast already has an existing and commercially viable operation at Glasgow, Ayrshire has no pressing need for it's own airport per se, it's great to have, but it's easy enough to get from GLA to most points West.

Prestwick Airport
 

GUMBALL 3000 STARS AND CARS TO FLY INTO PRESTWICK FOR UK LEG OF 2014 RALLY | Glasgow Prestwick Airport

:D

cost cutting
 

looks like Liverpool are keen to provide remote ATC for quiet regional airports


John Lennon Airport looks to provide air traffic control for other UK airports - Liverpool Echo


wonder how much could be saved by out sourcing?

bb

Bad bear
 

It can be a huge saving, this is also been developed in Norway for remote regional airports including ground movement controlled by remote ,tore, operations, they plan to use a combination of high resolution camera's with night vision and thermal imagining with ground radar.. This would actually improve operations in LVO beyond the visual picture that current tower operations have.

Of course it means job cuts, but if means an airport remain viable and open it should be welcomed, at least by some

I can't see the CAA taking less than ten years to decide whether to approve remote aerodrome control ops. And then it'll probably be no. Rightly too in my view.

NS

Prestwick Airport
 

Nicola Sturgeon to announce today, her plans for the development of Prestwick Airport.....
BBC News - Prestwick airport: Nicola Sturgeon to outline future plan

BBC News - Prestwick Airport: Nicola Sturgeon outlines nearly £10m of new investment
Another £10 Million quid of taxpayers money going in.

Wonder if there will be any change in the management team that drove PIK into the red?

Would be fascinating to know how they plan to increase business at the airport, and crucially how GLA and EDI are going to react to a state funded business in their midsts.

All investment is still being claimed to be " a loan" therefore one would assume the plan is to recover the funds invested at the "taxypayers" expense. Whether that gets repaid in due time I think remains debatable. Just sounds like noones willing to make the only sacrifice thats needed, and not at this independence vote time....:rolleyes:

All investment is still being claimed to be " a loan" therefore one would assume the plan is to recover the funds invested at the "taxypayers" expense. Whether that gets repaid in due time I think remains debatable. Just sounds like noones willing to make the only sacrifice thats needed, and not at this independence vote time....:rolleyes:
#shambles

I watched the Sturgeon presentation this morning. The £11m loan is the amount for this year only. She couldn't/wouldn't say what it would be next year, but made the point that the business plan depends on what Ryanair decides for their winter 2014-15 timetable and beyond. In other words, they don't know.

£2.4m of this year's money is for renovating the duty-free area and tarting up the terminal so it looks nicer, apparently in the hope/expectation that this will increase pax numbers.

She also wouldn't say when the loans would be repaid other than saying it would take "years" for the airport to return to profitability.

She did make the point that their plans involve pursuing all aspects of the airport's operations - pax, cargo, MRO, FBO, property etc - and that no one of these was seen as more important than the others.

Yes, there is to be a shake-up of the management. There will be two boards - a strategic holding company, with government representation, and an operating company dealing with the day-to-day business of the airport.

There must surely be a big fear that the reason why Infratil never invested is that they couldn't see how they could ever get a return on the investment. It will be interesting to see whether/how having different people making the investment decisions will turn the airport round. Because if it doesn't, we'll have a closed airport and a massive unrecoverable debt to the taxpayer.

NS

Simply buying votes in the referendum TBH

Its going to end in tears......

Although I work at Glasgow Airport and normally fly to and from there, I have no desire to see any airport in Scotland close and make workers redundant. I have been made redundant on more than one occasion and know only too well what it is like and wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Some users of this forum really need to grow up and get a life instead of acting like school boys with their "my airport is much better than your airport" attitude. It's very obvious that some are so desperate for Prestwick to close and that all business is transferred to their favourite airport. Prestwick made a profit up until several years ago then Infratil messed things up and the airport started making a loss. I've no doubt that if the Scottish Government had not stepped in and allowed Prestwick to close that they would have been criticised for that too. Prestwick made a profit before and it will again with the right management team behind it. There is room for all three airports in central Scotland.

Same owner ran down Manston airport as well :(

Apparently BA are to utilise the ex Polar hanger again to service the executive A318s albeit on a temporary basis.

Must be great tax breaks for 'owners' to run down successful airports to allow them to sell them for a £1 having paid millions to buy them and more millions to run them, must get me an economics degree in Scotland :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Facelookbovvered
Love that comment:)

How does the song go FLB? "It's the same the whole world over....."

SLF

Very true