PRESTWICK

[SLFguy]

Can anyone tell me how often you get AN12s at Prestwick... we have one booked to take some kit down to the Congo on Saturday, 04/02 and was curious.

[BALIX]

I'm sure there are people far better qualified than me to answer this but as they haven't bitten yet, I'll give you the benefit of my dubious wisdom. The answer is 'not very often', which might be a bit vague but I present it to you with the best intentions.

We do see the AN124 fairly frequently, there was one here at the weekend. Which doesn't help you I'm afraid. I think there was an AN12 in a couple of weeks ago as I caught a glimpse of it as I drove past.

Ugly buggers, aren't they?

[AlphaWhiskyRomeo]

I'm sure there are people far better qualified than me to answer this but as they haven't bitten yet, I'll give you the benefit of my dubious wisdom. The answer is 'not very often', which might be a bit vague but I present it to you with the best intentions.
We do see the AN124 fairly frequently, there was one here at the weekend. Which doesn't help you I'm afraid. I think there was an AN12 in a couple of weeks ago as I caught a glimpse of it as I drove past.
Ugly buggers, aren't they?


From what I know, I'd say 1-2 a month on average for an An-12s?
An-26s are a bit more common, maybe.

An-124s maybe up to 4-6 in a busy month?

[Buster the Bear]

Congo in an AN12, how long will that take?

Give Buster's wife a truck and I bet that she could get it into Africa quicker, just experience her driving!

[allanmack]

2-3 AN-12s a month @ PIK , Vega Air and Heli Air being the visitors in January so far I gather.

[Voldermort]

Yeah 2-3 a month sounds about right although there were at least 5 during December with 2 at once on the 30th.Apart from the 2 operators mentioned by allanmack others are usually Bright aviation,Volare and ACI(UK),although I am led to believe that the one due on Sat is not operated by any of the usual suspects;)

[SLFguy]

It's Aerovis Airlines based in Kiev if that is of any interest to anyone.

[Gpik]

Hey,

Does anyone know of anymore new routes out of PIK for the summer/autumn? Aer Arann? Romour mill from the FR crew room is that another couple of a/c are to be based there shortly..but to operate what routes?
Also Transavia seem to be here for the long haul as they have started a major marketing campaign, no matter where you drive in Glasgow the telephone boxes all have adverts on as do many billboards etc etc.
Did I read that WizzAir were to announce a 3rd route of PIK?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated
Cheers:8

[airhumberside]

FR are to replace Lubeck flights with a Wroclaw service
JER charter flights will return next summer operated by Loganair

[james170969]

Are Ryanair replacing all Lubeck flights or only on certain days?

[airhumberside]

On all days. It is only operating three times a week at the moment

[Jes]

This is what some chums of mine have sent to PIK's management. Are their views shared by others? Is this typical Infratil?

We flew back from Prestwick to Stansted (Ryanair) Monday (1740 flight) and were appalled at the state of the departure lounge:

1) The ladies' lavatories absolutely stank and were most unpleasant to use, with no alternative,
2) All the litter bins in the lounge were full and overflowing,
3) Nobody clearing the crockery in the seated area,
4) The floor needed the litter picking up followed by a good hoover and clean,
5) Coffee stall unmanned,
6) Over £3.00 for a sandwich - exploitation.

As a last memory of Scotland it hardly left the right impression. It reinforced much of the negative approach of your tourist industry that is reported in the English press.

In future we will use Air Berlin into/out of Glasgow City Airport.

[allanmack]

Agree that PIK's departure lounge is desperate at present. I gather that there are major plans to completely revamp it but that does not make up for the fact that toilets are not cleaned regularly and that litter is left. (Having said that I am always amazed at the litter left by passengers at all the airports I regularly fly to). As for the catering (SSP) this franchise is a rip off whichever airport they are at and I think they are based in most major UK airports. Quality is crap also and I gather they pay their staff sweet FA - hence the service - it is not just PIK.

As regards flying into Glasgow 'city' airport don't expect anything drastically different if you park at T2 - it is as bad as PIK and needs a major clean up also. Both terminals are now showing their age quite markedly.

[cleartopush]

That's Infratil, no staff at Manston (mse) 2 ramp staff + fire crews on each shift to run an airport :uhoh:

[billyg]

As regards flying into Glasgow 'city' airport don't expect anything drastically different if you park at T2 - it is as bad as PIK and needs a major clean up also. Both terminals are now showing their age quite markedly.
To compare the 60s style facilities at PIK with the consistently upgraded facilities at GLA is nonsense , some of the worlds major airlines now op from GLA and they will have vetted the facilities before using the airport !:suspect:

[Jockflyer]

FR are to replace Lubeck flights with a Wroclaw service
JER charter flights will return next summer operated by Loganair

Hi, just wondered where you got the info re Loganair, I've not heard anything and I work for them.

[airhumberside]

Taxiway Alpha Forums

[iain32]

Any new airlines planning on starting up or any new ryanair routes planned?

[the_fish@blueyonder.]

I use PIK now and again if it's drastically cheaper than EDI/GLA. It used to be much much worse than it is now and when compared to other FR airports, at leats there is the luxury of shops, padded seats and even a carpet (comparing to Lubeck) in Departures.

It would be interesting to see if this airport is majorly upgraded and how major an upgrade it does recieve. The Terminal as it stands is pretty, the only thing that makes it different from when i flew from there in the late 80's is a coat of paint and a WH Smith!

I hope they re-open the Spectators Gallery, it offered great views of the airport and the surrounding area, and it even had a cafe and an indoor area for when the weather was bad (never foggy though :cool: ).


As for the main Glasgow Airport, I like the main Terminal, it is much better than the one at Edinburgh. The T2 section for LOCO flights is a bit of a let down, but it's only for check in and the main terminal more than makes up for it.

[airhumberside]

FR have announced new routes to Eindhoven and Riga, at the expense of frequencies on other routes

[larshakan]

Which routes except twice a week to GSE?

[blazing_air]

That's Infratil, no staff at Manston (mse) 2 ramp staff + fire crews on each shift to run an airport :uhoh:

Nobody likes the current manning situation, but it has to be said. It is working.!

[airhumberside]

Which routes except twice a week to GSE?
Marseilles and Rome (according to posts on Taxiway Alpha Forums)

[larshakan]

ok, thanks!!

[Skipness One Echo]

Had a Hell of a time going flying through the flea pit that PIK has become at the weekend. The elderly security man insisted that I walk back like a naughty school boy to put my housekey that he had inspected closely through the xray machine!! They are sooo patronising. However here's the wierd bit. Smoking indoors is illegal in Scotland so they have opened the outdoor seating area from the departure lounge so that people can sit outside and smoke, under a sign that warns them that this is strictly prohibited.
This is because stands 1A, 1 and 2 are right behind you and aircraft are being fuelled, hence the obvious danger of a fuel spill and flying ash I presume?
Going on the hundreds of cigarette butts discarded and not swept up for god knows how long, the airport authority CANNOT be ignorant of the danger.
Perhaps the CAA needs to have a word.

And to the young man who yelled at me for snapping a shot of the Israel AF 707 on the ramp as I boarded on stand 1, I wasn't last in the queue, I didn't hold anyone up and in future, you remove the safety rope AFTER boarding, not in the middle of it!!! Kind of prevents the need to shout at the two elderly ladies, the woman and child etc who ended up walkin UNDER the wing of the B737-800.

So note to Infratil : Patronising and grumpy security men are NOT GOOD.
Allowing smoking that close to a fuel bowser is NOT GOOD.
Lippy school kids shouting at your customers for not being psychic are NOT GOOD.

However, thanks to the friendly and courteous staff at BAA Stansted who spotted before I went thorugh the machine that my belt would set it off and treated me like a human being as I was searched with GOOD HUMOUR and dignity. Contrast that with the PIK staff who treated me like an idiot for sleepily walking through with my keys in my pocket and shouted at me to keep my arms up as slid his thumbs inside the top off my trousers and did a circuit of my waist and wondered why I objected? Are they allowed to feel in your pants like that??? What the Hell?
Infratil if you are reading this, the flight was Sunday's FR422, your staff are rude and your procedures are scary.

[IanH]

Why dont you write in to the airport and express your concerns if you are that unhappy ? If no one from there reads this forum, its not going to get addressed is it ?
I dont work for/at Prestwick Airport, I fly out of there on a regular basis and I have never experienced any rudeness from the security or ramp staff, I tend to agree that the smoking issue is a concern though :uhoh:

[PIK3141]

I don't work at or for PIK, but have used Ryanair many times. Lets make the point that if PIK wasn't there and Ryanair didn't fly to two dozen destinations it would be a lot more difficult to come and go into and out of Scotland, the old standards being MAN or LHR.

You open your post going on about a 'flea pit' and that sets your tone. If you don't like it then use LHR/GLA on BA or BMI and see how you like that. You'll certainly need more time to spare.

As said, never had any trouble with the staff and don't recognise your problems. It often takes two to cause such problems, especially if one arrives at a 'flea pit' with attitude. I don't think others of us would describe it so.

Re smoking, the airport declared itself 'smoke free' before the recent law change in Scotland. So write in and complain. Re the rope barrier, Ryanair often shut the rear door before boarding is complete and PIK remove the rear steps - removing the barrier may come first. And you can expect to get shouted at anywhere you digress airside to take photos in this day and age. Stick to around the perimeter where PIK is one of the most photo friendly airports to be had.

So write to PIK, or use GLA, and those of us who appreciate having the airport and its services will get on with continuining to do so.

[Skipness One Echo]

You misunderstand, the rope barrier was removed with the back door open, boarding half way done and steps in place. I felt sorry for the passengers who got the brunt of it for not realising you were not permitted to walk under the wing. (It might fall off and land on their heads after all). They were not to know. Perhaps I wa simply tired. Perhaps there was something in my keys that neede to be x-rayed. I'm willing to entertain serious suggestions on that one.
And my parents live in Ayrshire and so PIK was closer. Of course the flip side is that with the new M77 GLA ain't that far away either and next time I shall use them.

In fairness the inside of the terminal is fine, the departure lounge as has been mentioned by others is far from what you need. The apron layout and equipment is still from another time but good luck to them.
But there is no excuse not to have the savvy to cover your tracks by sweeping up if you are letting people smoke on the fly.

[james170969]

Does anyone know anything about flight SDM9069 from Moscow to Prestwick due tomorrow morning at 1050? Is this a one off or will it be a regular occurrence?

[GW76]

Wont be regular- if EDI cant make a Moscow route work- cant see PIK having a regular one

[PIK3141]

It a one off, Rossia TU154, out Sunday.

[Voldermort]

SDM=Russian State Transport
Some top Russian politicians comming over to see what a great job South Ayrshire Council has done of collecting this years council tax:D or maybe something else :}
Should be a Tu154 staying till Sunday evening.

[SCOT747]

Does anybody know how PIK passenger numbers have been over the summer? They used to be posted in the website every month but haven't seen any there since june. Also any rumours on new routes and also there were plans a while back for new terminal?

[Runway 31]

You will get monthly details on the Infratil website under announcements http://www.infratil.com/announcements.htm
I havn't heard anything about new routes other than the Ryanair Riga and Grenoble service due to start soon.
I believe there are plans in the pipeline to increase passenger capacity to 5 million by summer 2007.

[james170969]

Glasgow Prestwick Airport is delighted to announce today (Thursday May 31) that Wizz Air will operate a three times weekly service to the Polish city of Katowice from Monday September 3.

The announcement follows sustained growth in the airport’s Polish market, with recent strong inbound and outbound performance on the existing four routes.

Glasgow Prestwick’s management team were keen to keep up the focus on the Polish sector during its current position of strength.

Following negotiations which led to the announcement of the Katowice service, both parties were keen to emphasise the merits of working together and echoed each other’s hopes of success.

Wizz will now serve three Polish destinations from Glasgow Prestwick after launching flights to the capital city Warsaw and the fashionable coastal spa resort of Gdansk in 2006.

[WHBM]

......and the fashionable coastal spa resort of Gdansk in 2006.Obviously written by someone who has never been to Gdansk :)

[james170969]

WHBM, the post was copied from the email I received from Gillian McPherson of Prestwick Airport so you can blame her :) . When I think of Gdansk I think of shipyards and an industrial city. However, I believe there is a coastal spa resort relatively near Gdansk. By the way, I have never been to Poland!

[pikman747]

Katowice is only 45 minutes from Krakow which puts this service in direct competition with Ryanair. It will be interesting to see who wins! Perhaps the expanding Polish population can fill flights to both.

[honest man]

This is good news for Prestwick its about time we had a new route,theyve had funding for it scince they launched Gdansk and Warsaw, i think the 2 of them can operate together scince the polish market is big now

[james170969]

I agree, this is excellent news for Prestwick Airport. However, when I flew from Prestwick to Charleroi in March I noticed that a new bar had been built in the departure lounge and was taking up space that would have been occupied by seats. The few seats that were there were far too close together and as a result the departure lounge was very overcrowded and at least two hundred people had to stand. Has anyone noticed any changes at Prestwick since March? My next flight from there will be to Stansted in July so I'm hoping that changes will have been made.

[chrism20]

No it was still very cramped when I was there a few weeks ago. I agree that the new Elvis bar takes up so much space with it's seating. They could have moved the bar or the bar seating area further down towards the fruit machines or better still done away with the fruit machines, i'm guessing though that they make a fair penny which is why they are there.

I'm back through there next week again, if there has been any improvement i'll leave a message.

[james170969]

Thanks Chris! Did you notice what has replaced the old bar? It was all boarded up and I could hear a lot of hammering and drilling the last time I was there.

[chrism20]

The landside bar is now an overpriced Yates' with no food except microwaveable bacon rolls and egg sandwiches

Airside is now an 'Elvis' bar with odd seating which really is no good.

[honest man]

When i went to Dublin 2 weeks ago the flight was 0925 the only other flight in the lounge was a charter to LPA so that wasnt bad,on the subject of WIZZ if you try to book a flight Katowice shows as twice weekly but still welcome

[Voldermort]

Wizz to Katowice is Mon + Thur till the end of Sept then Tue,Thu and Sat from 2nd Oct also notice that Warsaw is 4 a week for Sept + most of Oct at least:ok:

[Skipness One Echo]

Yes indeedy it's getting cramped in there. Anyone know what the tin roof outside gate 3 is all about. Used to be nice having daylight out there as you waited in the corridor....

Surely they are not going to build something???

[honest man]

Nice one voldermort i didnt check Katowice for Oct so thats better then,as far as i know the 4th Warsaw starts in july:ok:

[dumdumbrain]

Have any of you at PIK heard of Ryanair doing PIK-EMA? Some was on about it in the crewroom the other day......

[james170969]

I've just noticed on Ryanair's website that the Prestwick - Brussels Charleroi route has been reduced down to three per week. I was under the impression that it had been increased to daily for the summer at least. What the heck is going on with Ryanair at Prestwick? Now because they don't fly on the days that is convenient for me I'm going to have to fly from Glasgow to London City and catch the Eurostar instead. If Ryanair don't want to operate this route then maybe another low cost airline will. Hopefully Easyjet will start a daily service from Glasgow to Brussels.

[Runway 31]

Where do you get your info from James. On the Prestwick website it is showing daily until the end of October and it is also showing as available from what I can see on the RYR website

[FLYboh]

From what I can see on Ryanairs 'find lowest fares' section the Prestwick -Brussels route goes daily from monday 13th August. Until then it's 3 X weekly.

Hope this helps;)

[james170969]

Runway 31, like Flyboh I checked the lowest fares section and the timetable on Ryanair's website. I also noticed on teletext the lack of the Charleroi arrival. Easyjet fly into Brussels but not from the UK. I'm hoping that either them or another loco will fly from either Glasgow or Prestwick to Belgium.

[honest man]

The Skywings MD83 has been causing more havok this weekend hopefully next summer seguro have change of plans and look for another source

[james170969]

I'm just back from a day trip to London Stansted. I must say that since I last flew from Prestwick in March the departure lounge has got even worse. It's still every bit as overcrowded as it was in March due to the severe lack of seating. The new cafe where the bar used to be looks very nice but the prices are very expensive to say the least. I don't mind paying a bit more at an airport especially if I'm getting a cheap flight but that cafe really takes the biscuit! The carpet in the departure lounge was full of litter and really needed a good cleaning. The Peckham's cafe in the landside area is a welcome addition though. On the whole, I'm sorry to say that Prestwick Airport has really gone downhill in recent months. I would like to see a larger departure lounge that is cleaned regularly and more seats.

[james170969]

Does anyone know what airline or airlines are taking over from Skyways for Seguro?

[honest man]

Dont know long term but today Titan B737 op PIK-ALC-PIK and Excellent air of sweden MD83 did PIK-FAO-PIK and is doing PMI return tomorrow,also Astreus is doing ALC to PIK bringing stranded pax back and there may be an XL B747 from LPA

[honest man]

Latest is Skywings seem to have got their licence back and will taking over the summer programme from wed 25th:ugh:

[james170969]

Hopefully there won't be anymore delays or cancellations. the longest I've ever been delayed was at Toronto a few years ago when the incoming British Airways 747 lost part of the fuselage encasing one of the engines somewhere between Heathrow and Toronto. The was only for four hours and was bad enough for me but hell knows what it would have been like for families with young children delayed for two days. I read in the Daily Record that Seguro is terminating their contract with Skywings.

[honest man]

That seemed to be the consensus it was terminated but the press release on the airport website seems to say different

[rumair999]

Heard some pax are still overseas from the weekend ! nice

[WHBM]

There is an extraordinarily illiterate press release from the tour operator on the Prestwick website

http://www.gpia.co.uk/DocLibrary/pdfFiles/Seguro%20update%2024%2007%2007%201pm.pdf

[james170969]

Does anyone know for definate if Transavia is terminating the route from Prestwick to Amsterdam? On their website it is only bookable until the end of October.

[virginblue]

There is an extraordinarily illiterate press release

Indeed. Astonishing.

[rumair999]

another shocking weekend at PIK - Sat LPA still to depart ! wonder who is helping them out - looks like they need it !

[james170969]

I was on Transavia's website last night. There are many routes which are only bookable to the end of October. Maybe they just haven't loaded them onto their system yet.

[airhumberside]

What routes are they - I imagine many of Transavia routes (such as to Greece) are seasonal and wont run in the winter, so will not be on sale beyond October

[james170969]

There's really loads of them and a lot of those you wouldn't think of as seasonal. It's probably best to check on their website.

[airhumberside]

With the exception of Lisbon (which is only once weekly anyway), all of the European city destinations are bookable from AMS I afraid, except PIK

[honest man]

Its certainly gone which is a shame a good route lost i have to say Transavia did market it all i can say is Prestwick will go on despite it ive seen a few airlines come and go

[allanmack]

And yet they continue to advertise in today's Herald.

[honest man]

The best news for a while Seguro axeing GSW and pulling in BMI and Futura,there was a MPJ/Aviajet MD did the ACE yesterday due to tech problems again and that seems to have been the last straw lets hope they build from this and enjoy there 10th year at Prestwick in 2008

[allanmack]

Rumour has it that £650000 has been earmarked for an upgrade of Prestwick's dedicated Rail Station including better waiting areas and toilets. Can anyone confirm?

[Skipness One Echo]

Not sure it really needs toilets as the Terminal is right there but the structure needs some TLC as the roof is badly leaking.....

[james170969]

The station is quite cold and damp at the best of times and like the departure lounge, it really needs some work on it! I read somewhere a while ago that the powers that be were looking into adding an extra line into the station in order to accomodate express trains into Glasgow Central.
Does anyone know if Transavia are coming back to Prestwick next year? Other than Cork and Poznan, are there to be any new routes / airlines at Prestwick in the near future?

[GW76]

The Transavia experiment failed and they will not be back.

[james170969]

Why did it fail? There isn't any other low cost airline flying from the west coast to Amsterdam. And I saw loads of adverts for the route on billboards, Glasgow taxis, bus shelters etc so it's not as if the public weren't aware that Transavia were flying from Prestwick to Amsterdam. I'm sure that if there is a big enough low cost market from the west coast to Amsterdam then some airline will surely step in and operate the route either from Glasgow or Prestwick.

[Callsign Kilo]

Don't know if anyone will take a stab at this again from the low cost sector.

Easyjet, Flyglobespan and now Transavia have all waved goodbye to the GLA/PIK to AMS route due to poor yealds. KLM looks like they have claimed back their exclusivity!

[Fly Through]

Curious for any info about the 3 visits by Zoom today?
FT

[james170969]

Does anyone know why Ryanair are reducing the number of flights to and from Prestwick and now flying to five new European destinations from Edinburgh? What are their long term plans for Prestwick I wonder?

[Jes]

From the last Infratil report:

Glasgow Prestwick handled 163,389 passengers during the month, up 1% on November 2006.

Growth against the prior year is a result of Ryanair services to Derry, Belfast and Kaunas, and Wizz Air's Katowice route.

Ryanair also launched a new three times weekly service to Budapest at the start of November which has performed well in its first month.

Further Ryanair expansion is considered unlikely after discussions about a significant future phase of growth ended as a result of being unable to reach mutually acceptable commercial terms.


Clearly they find Ryanair's terms, which they inherited, too oppressive.

[allanmack]

FR have been trying to get a decent presence in the east of Scotland for some time as it is a good inbound market and they would not want to give the whole market to EZY /Jet2. Expansion at EDI was always on the cards as FR wanted a presence on both sides of the country.

As regards PIK, what I think you will see is a consolidation of the present flights/destinations with little growth over the next year or so. There are bigger markets and profit to be made in mainland Europe. I cannot see FR moving from one side of the country to the other.

[james170969]

I had to go to Prestwick Airport today by train. The train station, although only about ten years old, really needs to be knocked down and rebuilt. It was very cold and damp, and that was just inside! Outside the brickwork had black and green gunge on it and the roof on the bridge was still leaking at either end. We had to walk around the leak so as not to get soaked. The roof was leaking back in May as well so it obviously hasn't been repaired. The toilets were a disgrace and were really filthy and as for that slogan, well it's still there! I feel that Prestwick Airport has gone downhill and that maybe Infratil should sell it's airports to a company who can actually run them.

[allanmack]

£650,000 apparently has been secured to upgrade the Rail station in 2008.

[james170969]

Thanks for your reply. The leaking roof on the bridge really needs urgent repairs. It has been leaking since at least May and really should have been repaired a long time ago. The brickwork on the platform needs a pressure washer to clean it, it probably needs a lot more work but it could at least be cleaned as a temporary measure. That shouldn't cost too much money or involve too much effort. I really don't think there is any excuse for their negligence.

[Skipness One Echo]

The station was built with EU grants and PIK as was had to put very little investment in. The bridge was left half painted as they were late opening and has remained that way.......No structural repairs have been done in the 13 years since it was opened.

[4567]

What airlines are Seguro Holidays going to be using for there holiday flights out of Prestwick in 2008 ?

[allanmack]

What's the story with Atlas Air's flights through Prestwick? I know that Evergreen are transiting elsewhere (Leipzig?) but Atlas activity seems to be almost nil over the past few weeks both via the cargo terminal and at the Polar Hanger.:confused:

[honest man]

Theres still 5 or 6 Atlas freighters a week the tech stops have dried up and the hanger has been empty a while now i cant answer those reasons,Evergreen are using Hahn out of Dover

[Lossie23]

Judging by the PIK movements of recent months it seems that the USAF C-130s have stopped using PIK. I know they stopped for a while after the protesters got on one, but they started using the place again. Anyone know why they've stopped again?

[Runway 31]

I guess the one on Friday doesn't count then

[Skipness One Echo]

The reason for this is the recent introduction of the C-130S, the stealth Hercules.
No really.

[Runway 31]

I think the weather will have had something to do with it. It has been very windy for a couple of months and the Hercs will possibly have been taking a more southerly routing to avoid the worst of it. This week the weather has been very good and we have seen some decent visitors stopping in for fuel.

[Lossie23]

I stand corrected. Hadn't seen that there had been ones in last week.

[honest man]

Nice to report 747 activity at the hanger and some Atlas fuel stops but on the downside the LCF flew Italy direct on sunday,on the USAF 130 debate last weeks was a Mildenhall weather diversion they have certainly dried up at Prestwick now

[james170969]

Can anyone tell me why the Prestwick Airport flight arrivals page on Teletext has been down for nearly a week and when it will be back on?

[pikman747]

Understand that the problem is purely technical but proving difficult to remedy. The airport does not intend to discontinue this service.

[smith]

Prestwick airport is a pig stye. The railway station is a tip and the whole place is a disgrace to Scotland.

On the plus side, they have a smoking area airside but even this is a disgrace with rows of abandoned indoor chairs left rusting and soaking in the rain.

Its hardly an advert for Scotland for people arriving from all over Europe.

[honest man]

All i can say to you is dont come back then if you hate it that much what a simple solution!!!

[smith]

No worries, I won't. Great post honest man, you must work for infatril or ryan with an attitude like that!!!!!

[allanmack]

Lets face it. PIK does need upgrading in various areas and I know it is being worked on. Every airport in Scotland needs to continually look at its image and work on improving facilities. GLA needs to improve its low cost pier as it is in many ways unacceptable - cold, damp and at busy times devoid of seating. Flying from EDI in a few weeks so I will be interested to see what has happened there since I last flew from there early in 2006.

What is needed though is constructive criticism aimed at helping the airport operators make the necessary changes and not the childish unhelpful comments like those posted by 'smith'. Please do not respond to such drivel where possible.

Anyone got any info on Cargotalia starting Houston - PIK - Milan at end Feb?

[smith]

Allan Mack

I'm sorry you find my post as drivel. I know Prestwick is a low cost airport and do not expect guilt edged taps in the barhrooms, however I did not realise that growing mushrooms on the walls of the railway station and selling them on to Tesco for resale was part of the low cost model. The windows in the rail station can not have been washed in 10 years if at all ever. It is atrocious.

As for honest man' comments, he obviously does not work for the tourist board, but his advice is sound and I will be heeding it. Another customer lost.

If you Ayrshire types are happy to wallow in grime and tell everyone else to lump it, go ahead, another great ad for your pure dead brilliant airport.

[james170969]

Sometimes if you want to fly somewhere without having to change or without having to pay inflated fares, then you have no option but to fly from a particular airport. I have to agree though, that there are areas of Prestwick Airport that do need to be upgraded - the train station and bridge, a larger departure lounge (sometimes it gets very overcrowded in there with nowhere near enough seats), new decor (there is too much purple at present, it's hoaching) a new airport slogan, and more cleaners.

[allanmack]

Smith, please don't make assumptions in relation to "you Ayrshire types". I hail from Glasgow and all I want is for posters to highlight constructively areas that need addressing. We do not want this thread degenerating into the pathetic, childish, tit for tat comments that ruined the Manston thread. We all know that Prestwick needs attention in various areas and I know that £650,000 has been earmarked for Rail Station improvements as well as money put aside for airside departure lounge improvements including the toilet areas.

We are fortunate that we have three decent airports in the central belt and what is not needed is destructive criticism. Keep the feedback flowing, both good and constructive but lets keep it decent.

[PIK3141]

Smith.
Back to basics. One of our staff flew Ryanair PIK - Stockholm last Sunday, returned last night. £57 total. Non-stop. BA fare yesterday thru LHR £400 ish. Before the Ryanair service two of us flew GLA - MAN - Stockholm return. Took all day to get there, took all day to get back. £800 for the two of us, 4 working days wasted. That is why PIK is now operating at capacity, and the loss of your business won't change that. You have been told money is earmarked for that railway station, still the only one in Scotland at an airport, and not costing us taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds. The terminal is stretched before 7am and before 1pm, and investment versus return on investment is an obvious problem. Your description of PIK did not stop Flybe, Cityjet, BA Cityflyer, BMI and Northwest all diverting into PIK last week. So overall your comments can be easily dismissed.

[Skipness One Echo]

If I was flying to Stockholm on business I would be mightily hacked off if the company booked me on Ryanair and a distant airport. They are not really a business friendly airline....

Essentially Infratil can't spend money as they haven't really got enough and they would see little return on inverstment if they did because Ryanair pay them Jack S***. What you've got at the minute is pretty much what you will have in 2020 short of a lottery win or a takeover.

[smith]

PIK

I totally agree, if I want lo-co prices I must accept lo-co services. However the problems I list are either out of sheer laziness or neglect, or through ultra penny pinching. Heathrow airport is pretty shabby but some of the things at Pretwick make me cringe. I am sorry if this offends anyone, maybe I am a bit of a snob but a basic concern for order and appearance really isn't a difficult thing to achieve. As I say I do not think any form of maintenance or cleaning has taken place in the railway station ........... EVER! I don't know who is responsible for the railway station so I won't blame GPIA for that.

The facility at Prestwick is fairly adequate, my main gripe is the first appearances to foreigners coming to Scotland, some of the areas are downright dirty, untidy and messy. I am sorry if this offends anyone, but it is just the way I see it, and it has been like this for as long as I can remember. It's about time management got a wake-up call and realise that (some of us) are not prepared to put up with this filth. If any of the detractors to my posts are in the Prestwick area in the near future I urge you to take a little reccy to the train station and then disagree with me.

[PIK3141]

Skipness One Echo.
You might be mightily hacked off but we choose our flights not the company, and we choose the non-stop flight with 4 hours elapse time office to hotel, not a whole day via MAN or LHR or where-ever.
The 'remote' airport at Scavsta is just fine cos it's quick to get through, with a non stop coach to the city centre, just like other Ryanair destinations such as Milan, Lubeck etc. As part of my back to basics message, Ryanair / PIK gives us a choice, and we choose to use it. You don't need to. You can choose differently.

[PIK3141]

Smith
Hopefully the £650,000 mentioned will get the railway station sorted, and I suggest if anyone from PIK or Infratil is reading, then they see to it that dirty, untidy or messy areas get cleaned up, because that should not be acceptable to any of us.

[allanmack]

Smith,

Why didn't you post like that first time around? Your comments now are much more adult and constructive and I don't think anyone would disagree with your comments now. Hopefully we will all see changes and as I am flying out of PIK next week to STN and then WRO I'll be keeping an eye out! (Actually I might go down tomorrow and get some mushrooms for Sunday Dinner!;)

[honest man]

Neither Smith i aint employed there im just a spotter i thought your comments were OTT

[smith]

I apologise for using the phrase "pig stye", it seems to have caused a lot of offence (espescially to pigs........ boom boom:p), this was not the intention. The intention was to get people to sit up and take notice, espescially management.

The £650,000 earmarked I guess is for an upgrade and well overdue maintenance of the station, not I presume daily cleaning and sanitation of the place.

[glatco]

Anyone know of any new routes being looked at from Prestwick, either charter or scheduled?
On a slight tangent I heard that Prestwick has just appointed their new SATCO, hopefully he'll be able to use his expreience to lick the place into shape as talking to a few guys down there morale ain't great

[Take up the Hold]

Any idea who the new SATCO is?

TUTH

[FDMS]

Lost count of the number of SATCO's PIK has had over the last ten or so years!!

[4567]

What airlines are operating the PIK-PMI flights on a FRI for seguro?

[allanmack]

Rumour is that the Polar Hanger is in the process of closing. Is this the case? - None of the local rags have picked this up (although given the state of the local papers no surprise here). I also heard rumblings that there were a few buyers (aircraft maintenance firms) interested but nothing substantial. Hopefully the guys working there will get a new employer if closure is the case.

[honest man]

I get the impression its true as there hasnt been a 747 for ages there must be some engineers kept as Atlas/Polar still have about 8 scheduled flights a week that could be a reason the techstops have dried up,hopefully someone will takeover it Air Atlanta would be good!

[FDMS]

Great shame if true. Any more news?

[Aftershock]

Strong rumours about that no more Polar or Atlas scheduled flights thru PIK after next week....Anyone got any more info??

[Skipness One Echo]

Do you mean Atlas tech stops or the SCHEDULED Polar Air Cargo and Panalpina / Atlas route? They are three different aspects and I'd be shocked if they all went! Mind you it is Friday 13th this week.

[tristar500]

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...

[boxer12]

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 !

[honest man]

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

[PIK3141]

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 ???

[Skipness One Echo]

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 !

[Runway 31]

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

[Skipness One Echo]

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!

[LOGICAL]

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

[airhumberside]

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

[tristar500]

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.

[pikman747]

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.

[james170969]

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.

[CabinCrewe]

Zilch in this climate.

[ALLMCC]

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.

[james170969]

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.

[FDMS]

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?

[james170969]

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.

[honest man]

Think the seguro cutbacks went to Manston in august

[4567]

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

[allanmack]

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

[Dougal McGuire]

extremeley reasonable allanmack!

i booked last night, 12c return + taxes!

[4567]

Anybody know what airlines are operating the FUA flights to Tenerife and Gran Canaria tonight on behalf of Seguro?

Think Seguro will keep on FUA for next year? Im supposed to fly to PMI next year on a Fri flight at 12:45 with seguro don't know what airline yet though.

[billyg]

AEA and IWD are operating the PIK flights !

[4567]

Think Seguro will maybe start to use UK airlines such as Monarch, Bmi or Jet2 or think they will just keep LTE and replace futura with Iberworld?

[Jox]

A great airport in time gone past but reading the posts on this thread reminds me why I left the area 22 years ago for pastures new.

I truly hope the area keeps one of the best fog free airports in the UK somewhere near productive, how much I hate to read how things have been allowed to deteriorate is beyond description.

A resource that may do better if the BAA abandon Glasgow as is predicted.

:E

[pikman747]

Jox views are rather negative! At this time all airports (and airlines) have problems but to be positive Prestwick is one of the few airports still showing passenger growth in recent months - not much but better than the -ve figures coming out of Glasgow.

The terminal suffers from growth which has overloaded the existing building designed for no more than 2m pax - currently 2.5m.

Air freight is suffering badly from the loss of Atlas/Polar but Prestwick remains the only airport north of Manchester which can handle 747 freighters.

[4567]

Seguro Holidays has went bust!

Scots May Be Stranded After Seguro Holiday Firm Collapse (from The Herald ) (http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2444341.0.Scots_may_be_stranded_after_Seguro_hol iday_firm_collapse.php)

[Twitcher]

Seguro Travel Limited and its subsidiary Seguro Aviation Limited which trade under the style Seguro Holidays and Kent Escapes ceased trading on 10 September 2008.

Customers who have booked to travel by air from 10 September onwards should refer to the Civil Aviation Authority website (Air Travel Organisers' Licensing | ATOL (http://www.atol.org.uk)) where further advice is given.

The directors of the company deeply regret the closure of the business which has been brought about by the failure of Futura Airlines last weekend.
The directors of Seguro have no involvement in the management of Futura Airlines.
The directors apologise to all of our customers.

[4567]

Any news on any charter companys coming in to replace Seguro?

Ryanair could consider Transatlantic flights from Prestwick aswell as Stansted and Birmingham should they aquire Aer Lingus and use the long haul a/c they have on order!
Ryanair 'To Begin Transatlantic Flights' (http://news.holidayhypermarket.co.uk/Ryanair-To-Begin-Transatlantic-Flights-18793998.html)

[Skipness One Echo]

How f***ing deperate would you need to be? I mean come on!!! Long haul cattle class is not brilliant but imagine what Ryanair would offer. 8 hours in a dayglo plane being sold scratchcards by Helga from Warsaw! Would make the midnight Ibiza run seem like Raffles Class by comparison!

[allanmack]

Sorry, but Sophie from Riga (who was gorgeous) would be preferable than the last lot I had with CO into Newark! She would make the 8 hours or so (despite the dayglo) very bearable!

[Skipness One Echo]

Flew Ryanair 12 times last year and I found that barely 1/3 of them can grunt in English! Awful people. You get what you pay for lads! Consider why the Prestwick base doesn't have a lot of Ayrshire lassies wanting to be hosties. Awful conditions (!)
I know that a lot of the Stansted based crew top up their earnings by other methods on a Friday night in Bishops Stortford.......:eek:

[james170969]

It won't actually be Ryanair that is flying any transatlantic routes but a sister airline set up by Ryanair. I watched an interview with MOL a few months ago. He said that on the transatlantic airline there would be business class as well as economy. He said that in business class there would be "beds and XXXX XXXX" Ryanair seems pretty sure that they will be allowed to take over Aer Lingus who may operate these transatlantic flights.

[Skipness One Echo]

Believe me Ryanair will NOT be allowed to get their hands on Aer Lingus. M O'L has pissed off way too many politicians both in the Republic and in Europe for that to happen. I actually suspecy this is a diversion so that people take their eyes off the very real problems facing the voracious Ryanair ! The main profit driver remains Stansted and that is taking a hammering at the moment.

[sitigeltfel]

Can this dump get any worse?

I fly in and out of PIK about twice a month and the appearance, standard and cleanliness of the terminal has become truly shocking.
On arrival you are confronted with an entrance area that has a boarded up window and a new set of narrow, unpainted swing doors that are nearly impossible to get through if you are towing luggage. Despite this area having No Smoking signs it is normally full of gaspers puffing away, and the floor littered with dog ends.

Once you have checked in the next disappointment is the catering area. Where they get the staff to man these places is beyond me. The incompetence in order taking, lack of any semblence of customer service and ability to keep the place clean has to be experienced to be believed. You have to be either starving or have very, very low standards to want to eat there. Peckhams should, on the face of it, be a good place to visit but at Prestwick they have refined the definition of hopeless.

Getting through security has never been a problem but the insistence on forcing you to pass through the duty free area to get to the departure hall (lounge would be to grand a word) is wrong. I cannot stand the stench of the overpowering fragrances that they spray around and I am usually gagging by the time I escape through the other side. It used to be possible to bypass this area a few years ago but that exit seems to have now been restricted to crew.

The departure hall is where the true horror story begins. I am convinced the seating area is a test bed for finding out how long seat fabric can last without replacing, and the adhesive qualities of chewing gum.
The two catering outlets were merged into one recently and it serves anything that can be processed by immersing it in fat. There are the usual plastic wrapped curly sandwiches if you want to avoid a coronary. Judging by the size of the guy serving the stuff it appears that none of the left over food goes to waste. He has aslo been programmed to speak in grunts and avoid any eye contact. The coffee is distilled from recycled tarmac and despite the offer of free top ups, I have never seen anyone risk a second bucket.
One end of the food area used to have a glass wall giving natural light, but this has been covered over in plywood and painted a lurid colour by a blind man with a 2" brush.

The gents toilets in this area are amongst the most vile I have come across. A tip for the management.......... employ a cleaner. If you already have one, sack him or her. Also, sack the person who is supposed to supervise this area, they are not doing their job. Calling a toilet a Bog has never been truer than in this place.

I know it has been gone over before but the corporate logo and graffitti style paint job are a disaster and an embarrasment. Many people are nervous about flying and I would like to have been a fly on the wall when the creative geniuses who made up the logo with the word "dead" in it made their presentation to the airport management. What on earth were they thinking of? You get the impression that someone crept into the airport in the middle night and covered the place in this horrible mess.......and the place was so bad in the first place that they actually felt it was an improvement!

Rant over :*

[PPRuNe Radar]

I fly in and out of PIK about twice a month and the appearance, standard and cleanliness of the terminal has become truly shocking.

Why not try flying somewhere else ?? Vote with your feet :ok:

[james170969]

Sitigeltfel, I have to agree with you on most of the points you raised. The toilets could be a lot cleaner although they don't seem to be quite as bad as they used to. The seating in the departure lounge is a total disgrace and the catering leaves a lot to be desired. I have to disagree with you regarding Peckhams. I have always found the staff there to be very pleasant and helpful. The food and drink is of very good quality and not over priced by any means.
Isn't it high time though, that they got rid of the awful purple decor and that "pure dead" embarrassing and out of date slogan? I see from your profile that you come from Normandy. I presume that you use Prestwick to fly into Beauvais. I haven't flown in there for a few years. What is it like now, in comparison with Prestwick? Is it any better than when I last flew there seven years ago?

[allanmack]

And a very merry xmas to you too!

Seriously despite some over-exaggerations you are in the main right. Thankfully £1.6 million is to be spent on the terminal in terms of upgrading and expansion, mainly around the departure lounge. There was money also put aside last year to do up the train station but nothing has happened in over a year and it badly needs attention. As regards the staff, then there are some very good ones although there are the usual numpties but I'm afraid PIK isn't alone here and that at every airport I have passed through over the last year there is generally a lack of decent customer service. I would agree with james17069 that the staff in Peckham's are pretty good in terms of attention and friendliness.

[the_fish@blueyonder.]

I've used PIK a handful of times this year for the short (and dirt cheap :ok:) hop to BHD (even including the cost of the half price railfare to the airport doesn't come close to the price of any service from EDI, DND or GLA) . I hadn't used it for many years but can't say I'm that impressed with the airport at all I don't have many complaints about the Landside area, but airside is awful. If I wasn't so cautions with time managing I'd leave the absolute bare minimum before going through security when I use the airport.

While flying to BHD on Saturday (27/12) we were told of a slight delay of around 20 minutes. This was probably not the fault of PIK staff (no reason was given), but when it came to calling our flight they did so and got as many of us past the doors at the end of the lounge and then left us all clogging up the corridor to the gates. The DUB flight (which was due to leave after us but ended up going first) then had to shuffle past us all as we all squezed into the side. We then waited around for a few more minutes after the DUB passengers had all left before we all got told to come forward. :ugh:

Arriving back today was pretty miserable. A long, freezing cold walk down some dirty, grey corridors (no Welcome to Scotland posters, as found in most other airports in Scotland, for a start) to the sort of welcoming arrivals area, which for some domestic passengers means an extra walk down a flight of stairs to a hard to find baggage reclaim area!

The access to the outdoor area of the departure lounge had been blocked off this time by plywood as was mentioned earlier in the thread. This is for, I assume, a much overdue revamp of the area. Hopefully they'll create an organised, decent sized and just in general adequate queing area and provide more comfortable seating.

[pamann]

Just a thought but where do you expect the owners of Prestwick with it's principal operator FR (and almost only operator) to get the cash to pay for some of these nicety's? Certainly not from FR, look at the departure boards and count the number of departures by main carriers like BA, LH, BD etc... Don't spend too long looking tho. Do you get my point? Maybe Infratil should drain some cash from another of it's money making airports like MSE??? Ha ha maybe not.
It's a low cost airport. I use it a lot and can't say I'd complain other than the fact there is no natural light in the departure lounge as there are no windows. Other than that I've seen a lot worse. Have you ever flown through the old TSF terminal Ryanair used to use? Now that was tragic but we're paying peanuts (well most of us).

[smith]

Paman

Everytime a post of this nature comes up people get shirty and uptight and defend the airport to the hilt. Human nature requires a basic concern for sanitation and order, and Prestwick does not display any of this. Don't hit me with the Infratril are being screwed by FR p!$h, they are making fortunes from everyone else.I tried to open a unit in there and they wanted to charge me £100,000 rent plus a %age of my takings and basically told me I couldn't afford it, they seem more interested in chasing people away than attracting business.

I posted on this earlier in the thread and people told me to "vote with my feet" and "I'm quite happy with it" comments. I always thought Prestwick was quite a posh town, didn't realise it was inhabited by pikey's, jeeb's and neds who like wallowing in other peoples $h!t and urine!

[Tiger8]

I have heard about this arrrogant attitude from the airport owners from several different sources now and it is worrrying.
Yes, we are in a recession, and not many carrierrs are going to expand at this juncture in time, however their record since taking over at Prestwick has been shocking in my opinion.

This year alone we have lost Evergreen, Global Supplies, Atlas and Polar.

There is a certain gentleman who runs a handling company at the airport, who aggresively gets out there and attempts to get traffic through the airport.
Perhaps the owners could take a leaf out of his book and get their finger out in the new year. :ugh:

[allanmack]

"Everytime a post of this nature comes up people get shirty and uptight and defend the airport to the hilt"

Think you'll find smith that all ceratin people are doing (and I include myself in this) are trying to give a balanced view of the airport's pros and cons. Yes, there are defects and things that need sorted urgently but there are also some good aspects to the airport. We need to keep the pressure on Infratil to move things forward and get the basics right. Vitriolic comments which in some cases smack of over-exaggeration don't help.

Happy new Year.

[PIK3141]

Well it may have been stunning and palatial 40 or 30 years ago, but that was in the era of Air Canada, BOAC/BA, Northwest etc, all of whom are out of Scotland, at the time giving a norm of half a million pax a year at PIK.

Now we have predominately Ryanair, nearing 3 million pax a year, and an airport and services of much more use to many more travellers. You can check-in online, get through security within minutes, try not to topple any bottles in 'duty free', and wait briefly in a not too appealing departure hall which is about to be revamped. The standing waiting in corridors is not too pleasant, but probably deliberate, probably Ryanair, policy. ie have the pax boarding the same minute the crew gives the OK. And with the maligned open seating the Ryanair cabin can be settled in 15 minutes, and some flights leave up to 15 minutes early.

See the theme, cheap and maybe not too cheerful, but efficient, and with service to around 30 destinations. eg Stockholm this year for two on business was £80 total and 2 working days each out of the office. Five years ago it was £800 and 3 days out with the legacy airlines.

So like it or lump it, even in its present form, PIK and its airlines can easily be a first choice if you accept you only get what you pay for, an efficient bus service. The people intent on posting the more colourful exaggerated descriptions of the place should perhaps wind themselves back to a little realism and acceptance , or go fly from GLA on a legacy airline. That's easy, efficient and cost effective to places like Paris, Brussels, Stockholm, and many others in Europe isn't it ?

[Skipness One Echo]

Prestwick has one of the lowest demographics of passengers in the UK. Price is all it has, not service, choice or ease of use. Also remember that a lot of it's passenger business is immigrants coming to the UK and that has dried up of late with Ryanair now flying to more traditional, ie Ned destinations in Spain.....

The airport has never had more passengers or been a more depressing God awful place to use alas.

[hamsco]

The worst thing about Prestwick is the scramble and confusion of the boarding/gate process. When/if they sort this are out I wouldn't really mind the rest of the mess.

I cant cope with the scrum of 'desperate to board first' passengers hovering and being called for multiple FR flights at the same time, only to end up wating around in those dank corridors that they describe as gates. Its auful and I'm surprised there arnt pax who miss flights/try to board the wrong flight.

For that reason only I am happy to use EI to DUB or BD/U2 to LON.

[smith]

or go fly from GLA on a legacy airline.

I think we all may have to soon.

I think Prestwick is going to become a victim of FR's success actually.

FR are so big now that they can be regarded as a mainline carrier here in Europe. FR have been threatening PIK management of a pullout for years to keep their charges low, and with the breakup of BAA its only a matter of time before they start flying from GLA. I think you'll find FR are so big now they will have a change of policy and start flying from more mainline airports in the near future. The days of regional airports such as PIK, BVA etc are numbered.

There is now no need to upgrade the facilities at PIK, but clean toilets would be nice though.:yuk::=:yuk::=:yuk::=:yuk::=:yuk::=:yuk::=:yuk:

[PIK3141]

I don't think you're keeping yourself too well informed, re:-
PIK and Ryanair
The BAA and GLA / EDI
Current economic situation.
...and will you still be moaning after the current 1.5 million refurbishment ? !

[smith]

and will you still be moaning after the current 1.5 million refurbishment ?:D

Ha Ha Ha, reminds me of Dr Evil in Austin Powers movie when he threatens to hold the world to ransom fo "One Million Pounds" ha ha ha I love that movie.

Its really funny when you read of Glasgow getting a £100m upgrade and T5 costing over a billion and people get all upitty when PIK gets a £1.5m upgrade ,woopie bloomin dooo!!!! Really it doesn't cost £1.5m for a mop and some bleach!

We probably won't even notice the difference.

I am actually a great supporter of PIK as I live in Ayrshire and its so convenient, the only problem I really have is its cleanliness, I suppose they must be doing something right as the local council would close the place down, I'm just petrified of catching MRSA or something (exagerated for effect) every time I take a leak.

Oh and also wouldn't it be nicer if a UK airline flew from PIK, it always makes me baulk at paying the Irish to fly me about!!!

[sitigeltfel]

Why not try flying somewhere else ?? Vote with your feet :ok:

Not an option for me, I'm afraid. My destination is Beauvais, and please will some other operator look at flying there, from Edinburgh if you don't mind.

Flying into CDG is not an option as it would add at least ninety minutes to my onward journey and because it is......well......CDG!

[smith]

Been away for a while. Using PIK btw.

Yes I use fragrant language to emphasise a point. I don't know who it was that said "evil flourishes when good men do nothing", but it is very true in this case. If we don't say anything about the situation the status quo will continue. I tell you something I try to shock so that people will notice.

"Inforrmed, structured discussion" is just so damned bland. You gotta make things colourful to be seen and heard.

[allanmack]

"You gotta make things colourful to be seen and heard"

Agreed ,as long as it is done, say, the Barack Obama way, not the so called 'colourful' way of rants, raves and foul language. That impresses no-one and certainly won't influence them to action. You can make your point forcefully and assertively without losing the rag.

I think we all agree that PIK needs an upgrade in many aspects and we need to keep the pressure up in a constructive, structured and assertive way.

Just a point about your comment Smith, "I always thought Prestwick was quite a posh town, didn't realise it was inhabited by pikey's, jeeb's and neds who like wallowing in other peoples $h!t and urine!"

Prestwick is a fairly standard west coast town with a fair mix of people in terms of income. The airport itself employs people from all over Ayrshire and is not limited to those residing in the local town. Like most airports I agree you will find people working who make you wonder how on earth they got a job but you will also find people who care and who give great customer service. Try looking out for them next time you pass through any airport - they are there (including at PIK) and perhaps try recognising that not everyone is a 'pikey', 'jeeb' or 'ned'.

PS. Flying from PIK on Wednesday so will look closely at what upgrades have started (if any) and I'll take care not to catch the eye of any pikey, jeeb or ned.:ok:

[ara01jbb]

You may have heard this on Radio Scotland this morning... it seems PIK is, as suggested, a victim of Ryanair's success (i.e. success in negotiating terms).

Source: BBC NEWS | Scotland | Glasgow, Lanarkshire and West | Prestwick Airport 'losing money' (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7842806.stm)


Page last updated at 09:18 GMT, Thursday, 22 January 2009
Prestwick Airport 'losing money' One of Scotland's largest airports has been running at a loss for the past two months, it has emerged.
Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire has been hit by the economic downturn and management have refused to rule out job cuts as part of a business review.
The company has started a 90-day process to look at reducing costs and boosting revenue.
Airport chief executive Mark Rodwell said: "We are running at a loss at the moment."
Workers at Prestwick have been informed about the review, which has just begun.
However, management said long-term prospects remained "optimistic" and job cuts were not "a foregone conclusion".
..continues

[BALLSOUT]

You can't blame Ryanair for the airport loosing money. over the last 12 months PIK has lost almost all of it's major work except for the ryanair flights.
Ryanair are therefore keeping the airport alive. It is up to the airport management to find other means of increasing their revenue rather than expect their one remaining customer to pay all of the bills for them

[Skipness One Echo]

Well you can blame Ryanair as the airport will have to charge it's new customers real money to subsidise Ryanair flying for nought. I guess with Polar and Atlas Air gone, it's just Cargolux, Air France and Ryanair on the schedules.

Under those circumstance I wonder if the business is sustainable. I worried when the spokesman denied the airport was facing closure as clearly it's crossed the minds of management as it hadn't been mentioned thus far!!

All those passengers and not a lot to show for it. That IS the Ryanair business model! Any news on the Polar hangar? Still branded as such which is sad but I guess still standing empty.

[airhumberside]

I guess with Polar and Atlas Air gone, it's just Cargolux, Air France and Ryanair on the schedules.
Plus Wizz, Aer Arann and the odd charter

[smith]

I don't think you're keeping yourself too well informed, re:-
PIK and Ryanair

Care to rephrase that?

EDI is a far more important base for FR than PIK don't be fooled, its only a matter of time before FR skip up the M77 to GLA.

Serves them right, I offered them good money for a unit in there and they basically gave me a PFO, the unit still lies empty. Too many people above their stations at GPIA they need a shock like this to realise they can't turn down business.

If they come back cap in hand offering me the unit, they will get the PFO treatment, whats the point in opening a unit that will only be there a matter of months?

[PIK3141]

Smith.

Nope.

Maybe there were good reasons why PIK didn't want your business.

[Foondoot]

Still, at least you're not bitter.

[allanmack]

Forgive me if I am wrong but are Polar and Atlas still not running their scheduled freight services? I know the tech stops have gone. As regards possible redundancies I gather that this has been on the cards for a while and even before the loss of Seguro. And as for FR heading up the M77 - no chance of that for a while and yes, I think we all knew that FR wanted EDI and it is no surprise that it will become the No1 base in Scotland but they will always want a strong presence in the west so they will be staying put at PIK for the foreseeable future.

And have we not heard enough about smith's bitter fued with PIK? :ugh:

[Scottish Flyer]

Polar have pulled out of Europe completely. Atlas do still serve Prestwick twice weekly on contract flights for Panalpina.

[Skipness One Echo]

I knew that Atlas were still running the 744 for Panalpina from Huntsville but I thought Polar were concentrating ops in Schipol?

[Scottish Flyer]

When Polar pulled out of Prestwick they stated they were going to focus on Schiphol, which they did. However, since then they have pulled out of Schiphol and all of Europe to concentrate on the US to Asia market with a hub at Anchorage. The route map on their website shows no European destinations.

[kpiko3]

Dont forget the Antonov tech stops!:)

In the year of 2007 it was just under 10 we got for the whole year, in the last year we have had around 150! It shows what can be done.

The airport should be using the recession as an advantage and Glasgow should be a prime target! Airlines are struggling to pay fuel, flights are getting cancelled, etc. I have no doubt GPA could offer them a better service at a more affordable rate allowing PIK to pick back up to what it once was. Not only good for retail which the current management push on, it would also save jobs and night closure.

I think the £1.5 million extension to the lounge may have been better utilised keep the airport running at a time like this, then when we do see expansion from airlines or new services, use the new money wisely, possibly to build a new modern peir with clean toilets!

PIK has many advantages over other airports and as local enthusiast and supporter it is unbelievably frustrating to see the airport in this state, although everyone has to bear in mind the current economic situation. I just hope something is done before it is to late.

[Skipness One Echo]

I have no doubt GPA could offer them a better service at a more affordable rate Well one out of two, I'm, sure they'd have to undercut the price.

I remember PIK when it lost all passenger traffic by 1992, then reborn with the start of a weekly Jersey service from Business Air in 1993 to Ryanair in 1994. Since then the airport has handled a Hell of a lot more passengers than it ever did before. However the Terminal was designed for long haul traffic in the 1960s and hasn't really been changed since. The structure is old and tired, and is also starting to look its age. The new shops and facilities inside just clash even more with the older parts bringing them into sharp relief.

The lounge was never intended to deal with 5 737-800s at once and it shows. I used to love Prestwick but I really wonder more and more if it has a future beyond Ryanair and adhoc freight. As the economy nose dives, I would not be surprised to see Wizz move out.

As for Polar, never saw them at all at PANC last year but looks like they have done what Northwest Cargo did in 1982. Left Prestwick and Europe for Asia. The more things change....

[blueplatinum]

They should do some deals with tour operators to operate their charters out of PIK.

Until their demise Seguro holidays were operating three or four charter flights a week LPA-PIK-LPA in the Summer and, as far as I know, several other destinations through the week too.

Until S08 they were using Spanish airlines and so there were no positioning costs either although last year they were on BMI Chartered which presumebly cost more.

Most of the PAX loved the convenience of the small airport efficiencies and did not seem bothered by the distance from Glasgow.

[PIK3141]

A puzzle as posted on another website is that there are clearly 6 Ryanairs based at PIK from some point up to the end of June, an increase of 1. Then it drops back to 5 or 4, but with the suggestion their full schedule is not yet loaded. I would suggest there are two largely separate markets here, one currently PIK based, one EDI based. Chicken and egg means if FR have more aircraft here, more needs done to the lounge, but if less aircraft, then PIK don't need to do so much. Presumably PIK and Ryanair know the facts of their relationship, and I see no reason that those of us who don't know should speculate that it's a relationship under strain.

PIK could be said to be operating 3 distinct and potentially separate businesses:-
1/ The passenger operation, with Ryanair, Wizz, Aer Arran, and some holiday flights and charters.
2/ The freighters, Cargolux, Air France and Atlas (Panalpina), with now fewer fuel stops (odd Evergreen still appears), and with freight charters, mainly AN12, 26 and 124's
3/ Everything else on the rest of the airfield, the Navy, light aircraft, and increasing fuel stop business with everything from PC12's to AN124's including military. This afternoon 2 C130's and 1 AN124. These are very worthwhile business to the local hotels.

However, the suggestion of night-time closure sounds like a very typical accountant in action. The last Ryanair is back around midnight, assuming all are on time, the first out is 0630. But if PIK Handling, Greer and Ocean Sky want an ad-hoc especially fuel stop business, they MUST offer 24 hour opening. Many of these AN124's have been night movements. Night-time closure is the spiral to declining business Mr Rodwell, when you should be supporting your own PIK Handling, and Greer, and Ocean Sky, and Ryanair, and your other Customers by maintaining 24 hour operation.

Beyond that, not PIK, but high value employment, most of Spirit, Slingsby, BAE, Caledonian, and the new ATC centre are recruiting, with Goodrich going from 280 to near 500 employees. West of Scotland engineering recruitment including consulting houses is very buoyant, and that I do know first-hand.

[Skipness One Echo]

Where is the night closure rumour coming from? A massively counter productive move I think.

[smith]

The night closure was mooted on a radio interview with the NZ manager, can't remember his name.

AllanMack I have stated before that I use Prestwick regularly, I would willingly pay more to fly in slightly more comfortable surroundings. I do believe the management are holding the place back though, they penny pinch yet expect people to pay exhorbitant prices for rental space.

I am a pilot myself and know what airlines and passengers like and want as services. I live in Prestwick and totally love jumping off the plane and being home in two minutes.

The current economic crisis is not helping but there has been talk of Prestwick being loss making for a long time, I just don't understand this as the place is always pretty busy.

[PIK3141]

Mr Rodwell stated in the BBC interview that PIK has made a loss for the last two months.

[kpiko3]

It costs quite a bit to keep the airport open through the night at the moment, they feel by either closing or possibly reducing the fire cover to CAT3 from CAT7 between the hours of 0030 and 0630 they will save money. Which is normal and you cant really blame the management for exploring these methods of saving when running at such a big loss. But in my own personal opinion it is absolutely vital that Prestwick holds its 24/7 status or things will only get worse.

It is a key factor in attracting business to the airport and makes PIK unique to many other airports, I know first hand as I have spoken to many operators and the question is asked time and time again. CAT 3 fire cover only allows up to say a Citation Max. When comparing Prestwick to say Shannon or Iceland the majority of fuel stops visit through the night, especially in Shannon. If this goes then we will not only loose any current or potential business between these hours but most operators will go somewhere where they know they can land or depart anytime incase delays or tech issues en-route.

If the airport is going to make money then it cant afford to loose the one thing that gives it the advantage over most other airports when trying attracting new business. It is an invitation to demise.

[Skipness One Echo]

Glasgow Prestwick Airport (http://www.gpia.co.uk/general/newsItem.asp?NewsItemID=343)

90 day consultation on job losses.

In other news

YouTube - Prestwick Airport 1965 (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mz4g8L3J1IY)

YouTube - Prestwick Airport 1961 (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NbP2xWXNf98&NR=1)

[smith]

YouTube - Prestwick Airport 1961

Cool vid, reminds me of my days as a spotter when I was a kid, doesn't looked to have changed at all, and I'm not being controversial allanmack and pik3141, but I do believe the yellow van is still in use today lol.

I remember being there for the first ever landing of the Concorde prototype and the first commercial 747 landing (BOAC), the spectators gallery was packed on both occassions. Shame there is no access to it now, waved to my granny while she boarded a VC-10 on route to New York with BOAC in the late 60's. We had some great times as kids at PIK ,those were the days queuing up at the kiosk to buy the latest additions of CAM (civil aircraft markings) and checking off all the reggies we had collected.

Also got invited onto a USAF herc and shown round the cockpit by the crew, amazing. No security at all we were just standing at the wall to the left of the terminal where that giant water collection pool is and the crew were doing a walkround or something, we asked if we could see inside and they were delighted to show us, a great experience for our little bunch of 10 year old's.

[allanmack]

Smith,

I used to drive that yellow van as a student during the summers of 1977 - 80 so glad to see it's still in operation!
I also was at the first BOAC 747 (G-AWNC if I remember rightly) so it looks like we were enthusiasts at the same time. Good grief we may have played football together on the grass beside the dual carraigeway down near to the Pow Burn or over at Redbrae House!

[PIK3141]

And I also remember the 1st BOAC 747, something like 3 days after the 1st PAN-AM 747 which needed rescued by the Guppy bringing in the replacement engine.....

[Yankee]

Sheer bliss, not a yellow jacket in sight, how did they never manage to kill anyone.

[smith]

Allan Mack

You're beginning to worry me, did you go to Prestwick Academy?

Yankee

Sheer bliss, not a yellow jacket in sight, how did they never manage to kill anyone.

ROFL, ha ha ha ha ha:=

Just booked FR to Krakow £5 e/w, and yes I have an electron card.

[Skipness One Echo]

God those look like good days ! My dad was always going on about that. I hope more of these films surface. Loved the Seaboard World CL44 on stand 10.

[allanmack]

Smith,

Marr College and used to hang about with a crowd from Belmont. If I remember rightly their names were Derek Bentley, John Hendrie and John Nelson. There was a guy called Coughtrie as well.

Anyway, they were good days with a lot of interesting traffic albeit on the sparse side at times. It was very very obvious though when I worked as a student that BAA were straving the airport of investment with a view to it collapsing. And we obviously ahve seen what has happened. One thing is for sure PIK has been and always will be a survivor. In the future I can visualise a medium sized low cost passenger operation at PIK including increased charter flights to the sun. My estimate is that passengers will grow to 4million by 2012, freight will bounce back slowly, Ocean Sky will continue to grow thus attracting tech stops etc and the overhaul business will grow once again. I don't think overall the airport will grow to Infratil's targets but the site overall will still be a hub of aviation activity.

[silverstreak]

As much as I have fond and great memories (past and present) of PIK, I fear the worst.

Rumours concerning 'night closures', the withrawal of major freight flights, and the owners admitting that money is tighter than a camels *** in a sandstorm. Now thats tight! All that and the build up of FR ops at EDI.

Oceansky dont have enough business to keep PIK going, despite their impresive setup. Training flights wont keep the airport open, and the fact that the only tennant airline (FR) is ever demanding cheap deals, how much longer can the current owners keep it 24/7

I sincerely hope PIK survives

[james170969]

I sincerely hope it survives too Silverstreak. Not only is Prestwick convenient for me but if it ever closed (and I don't think it will) then it would do away with competition in the central belt which could only be bad for passengers.
Does anyone think that a new owner would make a better job of running Prestwick than Infratil? The hoaching purple decor and THAT pure dead embarassing slogan doesn't do the airport any favours in my opinion.

[smith]

Sorry guys, bt I´ve really had it with PIK security. Flew this avo and must have queued for over an hour to get through, my flight had been called already and "last call" was going out when I eventually. Thing was there was about ten operators there using only one belt, and they made EVERYONE take off thier bloody shoes. They could easily have opened another belt up with the number of staff they had. They are all just miserable little hitlers so they are. PIK are shooting themselve in the foot and yet again the management really sucks. I was there in plenty of time and usually have a couple of pints airside before boarding but had to rush straight onto the aircraft. Do management not realise that when hundreds of people are standing in the queue for over an hour they are not spending money? Especially as the airport is experincing financial troubles at the moment every penny spent in the airport is a godsend to them!!!

[james170969]

Smith, I can understand how po'd you felt. I flew in from Charleroi over a year ago. The flight was full and there was another flight that had landed at the same time which I think was also full. There were at least 350 passengers in total and I was at the very back of the queue waiting to get through passport control. With only one person checking passports it took nearly 40 minutes just to get my passport checked. There was one young female "upstart" who I complained to because she was just standing about doing absolutely nothing and was told that it was passengers like me who make life difficult for them. Have you tried emailing the mismanagement at Prestwick to complain?

[Skipness One Echo]

I had an incident a year or so ago when I was wearing my prescripiton sunglasses as I had broken my specs and being late on the STN-PIK I wanted to sleep. Hence contacts out and sunglasses on in the dark. Now in London no one looks twice at things out of the ordainary but on arrival at PIK, I had one of the staff in the dayglo yellow announce loudly to his mates at the gate "Here, luk at that daftie wie the sunglasses on." What he did not expect was me to turn on my heal and yell back at him but before I could retrace my steps he was off.
I asked to see the Duty Manager at the Information Desk but the disinterested woman couldn't understand why I needed to see someone and said "She was airside and might be back in a few hours" They're crap at customer service really...

Long story, short story, I emailed some people and made it damned clear that as a paying customer I expected a minimum degree of service and not some muppet having a go. The gentlemen was identified on CCTV, questioned, and since he was already on a warning, dismissed.

Never be afraid to check the name badge, ensure they see you do it, write it down, and walk away without ever swearing.

[allanmack]

Sorry guys, but what you have here is not limited to PIK. I have experienced the same scenario at GLA, EDI, LHR and STN where 'tin pot hitlers' who suddenly have a uniform,and a control and power over normal human beings, take the opportunity to utilise their 'chip on the shoulder' and show what impact they can have on life. Having said that the vast majority of security folk in my experience are good at what they do and they do have a vital role to play.

If we do experience the 'tin pots' then report them as advised earlier.

[Fly Through]

james170969

Had a similar problem myself not too long ago but I don't think you can lay blame at PIK's door as passport control is down to UK Border Agency, they do need to kick their arses though as it makes a bad first impression of the airport.

The decline has started for good now, Fire category is being reduced over night, then it'll be reduced opening hours, more lay offs..........will the last one out please turn off the lights :}

[james170969]

I sincerely hope that Prestwick Airport survives the current recession (a lot of which I believe is media hype) and goes from strength to strength. As I have said before, if the airport was to close it would take away choice for the consumer and possibly increase the cost of flying although I notice that Ryanair's "taxes and charges" for Prestwick Airport are quite high. I would really like to see another major airline at Prestwick but I wonder what are the chances of that happening.

[honest man]

There is a lot of media hype as well,it was obvious when seguro collapsed there would be long term trouble i dont know what the set up is with the ex Polar hanger but i feel somebody should be in there

[Skipness One Echo]

I read on one of the movements pages that Ryanair were using the Polar hangar as and when required.

[smith]

Just back from AGP-PIK, despite all the rumours I was able to carry on my handbaggage AND a yellow plassy bag full of duty free fags.

[PIK3141]

Well I'II take a turn.... No good complaining on here about PIK security. Firstly I've never had a problem, but the place for compliant is an e-mail direct to the boss, Rodwell. If I remember, I'll try to get his e-mail address. Also, write a letter to the Ayrshire Post, embarrass them.

Re immigration on arrival, I've had the queue of hundreds, one immigration officer doing EU, one standing doing nothing waiting for non EU, and 4, yes 4, Special Branch suits standing behind them, doing whatever us tax payers pay them to do !!!!

Nightime closure seems to have been averted, instead reduced fire cover, increased with prior notice.

Once heard that although Polar vacated the hangar they are contract bound to pay the lease for another two years, unless they can sub lease, or PIK gets a new tenant.

And with Ryanair dominant, other UK airlines are too scared to consider PIK in case Ryanair notices them !

But the bottom line remains, for me at least, no matter what the criticism, the combination of PIK and Ryanair provides a service that wouldn't exist without them wrt price, convenience and speed. I have no love of Easyjet or Flymaybe at GLA, who can't tell the time anytime I fly with them, nor of having to go through MAN or LHR when I can go direct out of PIK. If in the meantime EDI is getting the new routes then it's their turn. We had our turn last autumn, and on past experience, will get our turn again.

[Skipness One Echo]

Ryanair have flown 28 seperate routes from PIK, most are now no longer daily. However only Lubeck, Kaunas and Cork have been dropped which is a good steady growth in comparison with some other bases.

The recent routes like AGP, FAO and TFS are adding nothing new to the market alas. I wonder where future growth will come from. We shall see....

[smith]

PIK3141

Yes the two plain clothes were standing there doing whatever they were doing today, I don't know what they were doing but whatever it was it was a sterling job.

I can't believe however, that you have never had to queue at security. On Saturday afternoon there were only two flights leaving and we were queued back to WHSmiths and moving at a snails pace, quite literally it was an hour+ before I got through.

I, like you, am a great fan of PIK mostly due to the convenience and varied routes they provide, in all honestly though who in their right mind would want to transit through LHR or MAN when they can go direct from Prestwick? Maybe if you collect FF miles you would choose BA from GLA with all the hassles of a layover in LHR.

As I say I am a great fan of PIK, its just the management I have a problem with, they just seem to shoot themselves in the foot at every available chance they have.

I remember before the "pure dead brilliant" days, the slogan was "Fly Prestwick, Scotland's Airport", Scotland's airport indeed, they did not even have a saltire flying on any of the flagpoles outside, now go to any airport in the US and there are Star spangled banners flying everywhere. Needless to say a letter to Rodwell or his predecessor (I cant remember now) had the St Andrew's flag flying proudly on the main flag pole within a week. Now this is a minor example but in general management seem to discourage business in the terminal than do anything to encourage it. I'd like to see catering airside opened up to a free market and get McDonald's, Pizza hut etc in instead of that horrible place that has a monopoly on catering airside.

So PIK3141 I am not really that bad a person really and as I repeat am a great supporter of the old lady, we just need some decent management in to promote and exploit as many business opportunities as possible and do things that will make the experience at Prestwick far mor enjoyable than it is now.

signing off now, it was good debating with you all, think its time now for me to stop wasting band width on the old lady, I've said everything about her now that I wanted to say.

Take care all

Smithy

[XSBaggage]

And I noticed driving by after the recent period of high winds (2 or 3 weeks ago if memory serves me right) the saltire outside the terminal is in tatters. Maybe another email is in the pipeline?

[james170969]

"we just need some decent management in to promote and exploit as many business opportunities as possible and do things that will make the experience at Prestwick far mor enjoyable than it is now."
Well said Smith! I totally agree. Maybe new management would get rid of the hoaching purple decor and that embarassing and outdated slogan once and for all!

[hamsco]

I have to object to one person at security - PIK. Yesterday I went straight to security where I was welcomed with 'Good Morning' as was every passenger. Lovely - 100 %. Everyone in the queue was warned to take off belts, all 100 ml in a clear bag and to take off coats. Excellent - top marks.

We walked to the scanning machine and emptied pockets, bag, walet and anything else and walked towards the scanner only to be shouted at with the word:

'SHOES'

by a female who was taking the above items from us at security. Personally I wondered what she ment (I had been to the bar)

Did she mean ......?

YOUR SHOES ARE LOVELY - WHERE DID YOU GET THEM?

OR

I WANT TO SHINE YOUR SHOES BEFORE YOU FLY

OR

YOU STOLE MY SHOES, GIVE THEM BACK

OR

PLEASE CAN YOU PUT YOUR SHOES IN THE SCANNER, SORRY I FORGOT TO ASK YOU TO TAKE THEM OFF

If anyone here works as PIK Please tell this person that she shoud be working in a prison not an airport. If the concept of service does not enter her mind she needs to consider her position.

[allanmack]

Flying from PIK next week so will look out for this wummin. I have found the security staff pretty good to be fair; firm but polite. If I encounter this wummin and her apparent dictatorial attitude then she will get some polite feedback from me - contstructive, of course.

[honest man]

Personally as a Prestwick enthusiast i would like to see more aircraft there than anything else

[smith]

Personally as a Prestwick enthusiast i would like to see more aircraft there than anything else

Sorry folks but I have to break my self imposed silence on this.

OMG HM have you been living in a cave? Do you not realise that to get more planes you need to have more passengers, which means you have to have a comfortable building, good service, clean toilets, clean train station, efficient security etc.

Personally I would like to see more aircraft too, but use your pearls of wisdom and tell us all how YOU would go about it. :ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh:

[pikman747]

There are alternatives to passengers! In the current economic situation I would hope that PIK management are looking at increasing the number of fuel stops, both civil and military. With many aircraft routing to Central Asia to service the Afghan conflict Prestwick is well placed but does face competition from Shannon, Liege, Leipzig and Frankfurt Hahn.

[smith]

Granted pkman747, however the core business at PIK in terms of a/c movements is pax.

[Skipness One Echo]

Given the lack of revenue from their main passenger customer, they're not in a position to offer their potential fuel stops dirt cheap landing fees and fuel. Tis a Catch 22.

[Cargocat]

Who, What, When are the scheduled freighters out of PIK now.

[pikman747]

Current scheduled freighters are twice weekly Air France from Chicago to Paris, twice weekly Atlas (Panalpina) Huntsville to Luxembourg and six Cargolux (four eastbound and two westbound to Seattle).

[airhumberside]

Have BA World Cargo pulled out of PIK?

[PIK3141]

On the BBC Scotland website:-


Up to 120 jobs are to go at Prestwick Airport as a result of the economic downturn.
Staff were informed of the redundancies at a meeting this afternoon. It follows a consultation with unions. Management at the airport confirmed last month that it was running at a loss and announced a business review.

Etc.

I also suggest the whinging and blaming on this thread has been done to death, and there's no great need for this news to spark another round of it.

[smith]

Personally as a Prestwick enthusiast i would like to see more aircraft there than anything else

How about they restore the Prestwick International Airshow or start a gliding club on runway 21/03?

After today's announcement I don't think your wish will be granted......... hold on a minute, maybe the airlines will get together and realise that honest man would like to see more aircraft at PIK and start flying in extra empty aircraft. GPIA could then re-open the spectators gallery for honest man and other spotters, the potential earnings for the airport would be amazing. I wish I had thought of that :ugh:.

On a more serious note, PIK-AGP has dropped from 3 to 2x weekly as of April, I am sure there will be others to follow. I heard MOL was in yesterday telling the pilots of the reductions etc, apparently four of them flew in on a 737-800 with a full crew, they are meant to be flying around all the bases in europe having meetings with the pilots on their "private" 737. I guess if they are on an FR flight number and call sign they'll get their free/cheap landing fees. Probably cheaper in the longrun than chartering a biz jet.

[pikman747]

The BA World Cargo flights only operated through PIK because they were originating in Frankfurt and the rules in force at that time required a stop in the UK before proceeding to the USA. After realising that they were trucking cargo from PIK to STN they got consent to load here but of the three weekly flights only the Wednesday service ever seemed to have an uplift. The new "Open Skies" situation resulted in a review and since October they now fly direct from Frankfurt to the States.

[james170969]

"On a more serious note, PIK-AGP has dropped from 3 to 2x weekly as of April, I am sure there will be others to follow"

Last week I tried to book a flight from Prestwick to Malaga departing on a Saturday in July but I couldn't. I just presumed that the flight was full. I wonder how the load factors on their routes in and out of Edinburgh are compared to those at Prestwick.

[honest man]

Smith whats the personal attacks about i only made a statement and i dont have anytime for the people who run it as i think they are killing it

[Bite-Test-Satis]

Am I right in thinking that Ryanair were using the Polar hangar as and when required?

How full do the hangars look?

At least aircraft maintenance is increasing at Prestwick, I also hear that more recruiting of engineers is on the cards.

[PIK3141]

The Polar hangar is empty most of the time. Recently two pairs of RAF Tucanos on consecutive nights, and occasionally an overflow Ryanair 737.
30 to 40 staff from the Polar hangar joined the Ryanair hangar when the former closed, I believe. That manned up the 2nd Ryanair bay, and with the tail sticking out, a 3rd 737 can be worked on ''inside'' the Ryanair hangar. At this time of year there's often a 737 parked outside all day.
I'd be surprised if there was to be a substantial increase in jobs, Mr MOL has / had a dispute with the local council about rates, so the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Ryanair hangars up to the tower didn't happen. You would think instead that the Polar hangar would be ideal for Ryanair location wise.

[smith]

Sorry HM, believe it or not I am a pilot, I also have a great affinity for PIK and also would like to see more aircraft fly from PIK, however airlines cannot run on sentiment alone and nostalgia won't pay the mortgage. Just when the airline industry is in a pretty bad way and many people are losing their jobs I thought your comment about seeing more aircraft at PIK was not well thought out, if you have any ideas on how you could bring this about in this climate I am sure PIK would be glad to hear of them. Apologies for the sarcasm, its the lowest form of wit they tell me:O

[FDMS]

At least Ocean Sky seems to be doing well!
This as a result of the management actually going out into the big big world and making attempts to attract new business.

[honest man]

No problem Smith, correct think it was Tiger8 mentioned it a while ago that Oceansky have went out there and made an effort for buisness

[kpiko3]

Everyone needs to remember that until there is a change in circumstances then we all have to wait with high hopes and understand that the current management are doing what they can to keep the airport running at this moment in time! They are saving a big chunk of money with the night time reductions and with no business then I am sure everyone understands this is all they can do. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to see that there is no signs of improvement at the terminal and until something is done or perhaps a new owner is in place then it doesnt look likely this will change. In my opinion it wont happen for a wee while yet.

The recent changes to night ops between 0001 and 0559 have had no effect on operations. The airport have worked very well with all handling agents and the fire lads have been very good to us and providing a fire category upgrade when required.

[Skipness One Echo]

You mean aside from allowing any night stopping fuel stops to b****r off somewhere that IS open? It's laughable to say it will have no effect, we all know how much traffic PIK used to get at all sorts of early hours.

[kpiko3]

Yes but before this change came in we were not getting any tech stops in the first place other than Antonovs and military which still continue so I dont believe it has had any effect on what we currently get. That was what resulted in the place going down to Cat 3 because we were not getting this business like we used to.

If any aircraft were not to stop at Prestwick because of this it would be a flight at very short notice when the fire service cannot accomodate. If they do things properly and read the Notam then they will book with their agent and get PPR to operate within these hours. It is working well enough with our operators, although I fully support an argument for the airport to be open 24H with full fire coverage.

[Fly Through]

SOE

Think you need to do a tad more research.......
US Military only require CAT 3 fire cover, no matter how many onboard so do the majority of cargo and positioning flights. The only stuff it would affect are passenger ops and they should be giving the airport lots of notice first.

I'm just left wondering what happened to the fabled war chest the company used to bang on about? With Ryanair going check-in-less the airport should be investing in the terminal to increase profit opportunities but no eveything is on hold, the company is keeping hold of its cash for now...... a mishievous person might suspect ulterior motives :*

[Skipness One Echo]

Ooops. So just fire cover? Not ATC? Apologies all.

[Scott Diamond]

Is there any reason why, whilst there are all these job cuts etc, they are deciding to splash out thousands on revamping the control tower by creating a new radar room and implementing new systems such as CCTV? I thought the control tower was, although slightly back a few years, perfectly functional? Shouldn't they be focussing their funds on more important places?

[Fly Through]

Towers perfectly functionally, problem is the kit within it is slightly long in the tooth. The regulators required certain upgrades to be carried out, to the lighting system for example and this was all in the budget before the current problems.

[Jes]

Don't know if it's public knowledge already, but the Infratil Investors' Day report on their website talks of a ten-year plan by IAE to close a second runway - can only be Prestwick - and develop it for mixed use.

[allanmack]

There is a proposal to potentially develop the secondary runway and surrounding land for aviation related use but whther this happens remains to be seen as it is a long term proposal.

[Skipness One Echo]

Close the second runway and you close the airport on those really windy winter days as the main runway is often out of crosswind limits. I imagine Ryanair would not be too happy about that....

BAA sold off the second runway and closed it in the 1980s. I remember walking across the disused part of it when only the northernmost 1/3rd was on airport land when it was reopened for use by the BAe Flying College. It took a long time to get the full length back again. A retrograde step IMHO.

Incidentally it seems Ryanair have dropped PIK-NRN in favour of EDI-NRN.

[smith]

The FR's were taking off on 21 today

[james170969]

I've taken off from 21 several times but I've never landed on it.

[BALLSOUT]

We try not to land on 21 as the approach is awful, in strong winds the turbulence can also be quite bad. There are probably only a few days a year that we have to do it. Taking off on 21 is a non event, as long as you aren't too heavy!

[sealink]

flew BHD to PIK on Fri 7th and back on Mon 9th. was heading for weekend in Ayr. FANTASTIC. the flight left early, going into the air at 12.20. landed at 12.39. took the train - half price - into Ayr at 13.13 and was in the hotel at 13.40. could not believe how quick the journey via PIK took. first time to use the airport and was reasonably impressed although its like stepping back in time. the toilets are a joke. the return flight - which was very busy - left on time again taking an amazing 20 minutes. airport facilities ok. a very stress free experience for me. i will def use this airport again even if going to Glasgow, as long as the price is right. hope the airport keeps its routes and can get hold of some more. oh yes and fantastic taking off straight out over the sea banking hard left along the coast back past Ayr.

[honest man]

Glad you enjoyed the experience:ok: