In terms of location, Prestwick airport would have to be in Shawlands to be comparable to Bremen.

My point regarding the terminal was that PIK is never going to be successful for passenger ops if they keep throwing money at the existing terminal. With a small easy to maintain and heat terminal, much lower staffing overheads - e.g. the check-in agents, passenger assistants, dispatchers all multi-task. In other small airports such as Knock, Waterford, etc the check-in staff become the gate agents and then dispatch the aircraft as the passengers move through the terminal, thereby optimising the utilisation of staff. While its not meant to offend anyone, a lot of staff at PIK seem to spend a large amount of their days bored (their words!) and not doing very much. Perhaps the harshness of this winter will force a change.

Prestwick's last flights to Dublin departed yesterday, before Ryanair switched them to Glasgow International today.

I went out on Prestwick's afternoon flight and took some pics.


I live in Lancashire, so had to get up at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning to catch a train up to Glasgow Central, then another heading south to Prestwick Airport along the west coast.


The airport terminal is right next to the A79. The airport railway station (Scotland's only airport with a rail link) is on the other side of the road, with a passenger bridge connecting it to the terminal:


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04w0JCIUAEQ3r9.jpg



Plenty of parking space, both in front of the terminal (shown below) and another car park to the east.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04zGu7IAAAwVtL.jpg




When I arrived at noon, there were only six flights scheduled to depart for the remainder of the day.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04w2XRIAAEEE3G.jpg




The check-in hall was quiet:


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04w4zHIgAAAv4I.jpg


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04w7GsIYAAYTHV.jpg


Round the corner (still landside) are some shops and cafes, including a sizable WHSmiths and a Starbucks:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B046junCcAA0Bco.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B046rDqCAAACvCX.jpg


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B046yYNCIAE_nni.jpg



Just past these shops is Arrivals, which was empty. There's a baggage reclaim belt in the background. There are two other, bigger belts airside.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B0461P0CMAAVoV4.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B0464LzCYAEpUlx.jpg

(continued in next post)

(continued from above)


Not often that I find these landside at UK airports:


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04_CUxCIAAkc5g.jpg






The gallery was sadly empty!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04_FElCUAAxS2f.jpg



The view from the gallery. Only two Ryanair planes, and what looks like a cargo plane. I couldn't get on to the outside balcony, alas.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04_IKBCQAAJM7p.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04_LgYCUAAwwiv.jpg


Through security, into the departure lounge. It's much smaller than the landside area, but plenty of seats, a bar, couple of cafes and another sizable WHSmiths. I fear some of these places with be forced to close in the coming months, unless Prestwick can attract more flights.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04_OWTCUAA04Fr.jpg


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04_RJcCUAAdBt2.jpg



Unlike Glasgow International, passengers cannot access the pier and gates until their flight is called. They must stay in the lounge. The pier is just a long white corridor anyway, with no shops or seating. Passengers queue here until boarding begins, while staff go down the line and check boarding cards. Then it's out on to the tarmac to board. My flight was full to the brim.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B04_TtKCIAAs86K.jpg


All in all a very nice airport, but arguably far too big for the small number of passengers going through it at the moment, and I can't see those shops and cafes making enough money to justify their staying there. I just hope that a few airlines find Prestwick an attractive enough site to keep it going as it is at the moment.

Sunday looks pretty quiet with only one departure in the day before 1600, but then 10 movements in just 2 1/2 hours!(6 in 4 out)... then... nothing.

I guess its cost effective to fit everything into a short space of time and effectively close the terminal the rest of the day? Does the terminal get closed and locked after the last flight goes at 1820?



bb

Some positioning from PIK to GLA today which wont help

No, the terminal is open 24 hours. Of course the shops and cafes close but the Information Desk (at PIK it is called the "Welcome Desk") stays open until an hour or so after the last arrival as it deals with car parking also.

Bit out dated, the terminal looks like Luton did in the 80's !

Litefoot1,

While I respect your view that it is a 'nice airport', my experience was marred by my first impression. Grim, old, forgotten. It struck me as being so starved of investment and one that was totally unsustainable.

This is a sad day for the airport. It's future as far as I can see will be best served by maintenance, freight but not passengers.

As you rightly point out many of the outlets will not be sustainable with the new low levels of passengers. These outlets will aim to reduce costs to survive and likely further depress rents collected by the airport. The writing is on the wall and with a high proportion of FR's business going through GLA, I can't see how the situation can be recovered.

Thanks for the pix. Litefoot1. It must be about 40 years since I was last inside the PIK terminal. Then the check in hall (pix 4 and 5) was much the same, but no escalator and the check in desks were branded BOAC, Pan Am, Air Canada, SAS and KLM plus a third party handling agent (Scotia?). However times change and, as other posters have pointed out, maintaining a terminal of that size for a handful of Ryanair flights each day is nothing short of abuse of the tax payer by the Scottish Government.

Today most of the flights happen before 0900. (3 out and 2 in) then a single turn round about 1 pm and solitary arrival at 1600.

Are the flights being grouped together to make things more cost effective in terms of keeping shops etc open and minimising staffing bills?

Do the staff do fexi time or are they still doing 8 hour shifts?

bb

In answer to WWombat I am led to believe that not all the Scottish Government money is being spent on the terminal and is being used to maintain and invest in the whole airfield. Given the increased use recently by the military with regular RAF, Canadian and US Forces stopovers and diversions it is probably being considered effective use of money by the Westminster Government. I will though be interested to see how the terminal is maintained and staffed over the winter months. It was done effectively in the early days of the Matthew Hudson era when there were only a couple of DUB return flights a day so I am sure with the same staff 'multi tasking' as was evident then the winter can be survived.

However the question remains as to whether PAX operations will survive in 2015. If I remember right one poster (who claims to be in the know) has already hinted that it's a done deal that FR will move its 2015 Summer programme to GLA despite a fairly extensive promotional campaign by PIK to promote the FR Summer 2015 programme. Anyway just heading to GLA to fly to BFS so it will be intersting to see what impact the FR move has made terminal wise there.

I meant in terms of the experience rather than the visuals. I had some great customer experience at the Welcome Desk. I collect old fashioned boarding cards from each UK airport I fly from, but it's a problem at Ryanair-only airports as you have to print your boarding pass at home and they charge a fee at the airport if you come without. I contacted Prestwick airport and asked them about it. On arrival I was surprised to be given the Ryanair boarding pass for free, plus two old fashioned boarding cards that they'd dug out of storage (with my flight details printed on) and a load of Prestwick freebies. That was pretty darn nice of them.


Also, when I've travelled from small regional UK airports, they've usually got a small WHSmiths in a corner and one tiny cafe landside or airside. So it was great to find all those eateries and shops both landside and airside at Prestwick (even if they may not be around much longer!).


Then there was the spectator's gallery, getting through security very quickly and the flight being on time. Lots of good stuff even if the building could do with a makeover.

Today is a quiet day at Prestwick... last departure 1:10pm. Presumably they'd shut the shops and cafes for the rest of the day.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B1CHywuCUAA2t7w.jpg

I take it there is still a based aircraft at Prestwick for the winter - that will make it difficult to manage the operational hours as the aircraft will come and go a few times a day. It might almost be better now, in terms of staff management, if it was no longer a base and was visited by aircraft from other bases in the middle of the day - allowing one busy time in the afternoon and minimal operations the rest of the day.

bad bear, I don't really think Ryanair would group their schedules to assist an airport with staffing.

I love the way PIK's check in hall is so light and spacious. Granted it is old and needs some revamping, but I can see the advantage when compared with EDI's crowded check in area, for example. GLA is the same, pretty open and airy. It is amazing what a bit of "buzz" in the Terminal can do though, there is a thin line between being efficient and uncrowded and feeling "grim" as EI-BUD put it.

Glasgow Prestwick Airport's Strategic Vision Published Today | Glasgow Prestwick Airport

Strategic vision published today.

Any serious individual going to market would not be saying : P9 Point 2.7 on Maintain Existing Routes is obsolete already.

This is going to be a HORROR of a read. Like flogging a DEAD horse, The airport is like walking in to a GHOST town.
Joking aside lets hope the future is bright.

Yes, rob, let's just hope for that.
Let's hope EGNH comes up trumps too.

The report is fundamentally flawed since Ryanair moved the bulk of their business to GLA.

The money spent on the expansion of the duty free lounge has been wasted and the car parking income is going to be reduced significantly by the reduced passenger flow.

Still no word about the new chairman?

Great. Except that it hasn't been selected as the UK Spaceport. For it to function as a spaceport, it would have to be prepared to (a) stop all other movements at the airport for however long it takes to launch/receive a spaceplane. (b) stop the majority of Glasgow IFR departures for however long it takes to launch/receive a spaceplane; and probably (c) stop a whole bunch of en route transatlantic movements for however long it takes to launch/receive a spaceplane.
NS