Prestwick Airport – are those corrosive carpers happy now?

Such carping can be corrosive, so it is great to see that Prestwick Airport has managed to achieve what is now quite a long period of constant profitability in spite of the moaners and the negative air created by them.

It has always been most dispiriting to hear some people argue that Prestwick Airport does not or should not have a future, and claim that the Scottish Government was somehow throwing good money after bad with its rescue of this strategic asset and subsequent funding of it. The Scottish Government rescued the airport in 2013 and advanced it £43.4 million of loans.

Of course, the airport has had major challenges, and some of these have not disappeared.

However, it is an absolutely key strategic asset.

Moreover, it is very important to the Ayrshire economy. And it supports an enormously valuable aerospace cluster around it employing thousands of people.

The airport has had to be innovative, with its passenger operation a shadow of its former self, and it this week celebrated its diverse income streams as it announced its financial results.

It is notable the detractors seem to have piped down somewhat as one year of profit has followed another at Prestwick.

The airport, known officially as Glasgow Prestwick Airport, on Monday announced a £3.2m operating profit for the year to March 31.

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It described this as “a significant achievement that reflects the strength and resilience” of its “diverse business model”.

This seems like an entirely fair assessment of the results.

The airport added: “With revenue streams spanning passenger travel, cargo operations, general aviation, fuel supply and property, the airport continues to demonstrate its capacity for sustainable growth and long-term success.”

We should all be encouraged by this capacity.

After all, the airport’s long-term success is in everyone’s interests, is it not?

Last November, the airport announced an operating profit of £2.1m for the 12 months to March 31,2023, up from £1.9m in the previous financial year.

The latest financial results unveiled this week were described by the airport as “a testament to the ongoing success of Prestwick’s strategic approach to business diversification and investment in core areas”.

The airport declared that its “balanced portfolio” has positioned it as a “key player in the region’s economic development, while also offering an attractive proposition for new business ventures”.

It had good news on cargo operations on a couple of fronts.

And it was upbeat about its relationship with Ryanair, the budget airline on which Prestwick is obviously now very reliant. In this regard, it has been encouraging to see Ryanair establish an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility, employing in excess of 600 people, at Prestwick Airport.

Setting out its good news, the airport said: “Prestwick’s future growth strategy is further strengthened by new partnerships that will drive expansion in the high-demand cargo sector.”

It declared that one of the “key developments” is its collaboration with Royal Mail, announced in June.

The airport said: “This strategic partnership aims to attract e-commerce cargo flights to Prestwick through [the] joint offering, ‘The Fast and Efficient E-commerce Solution for the UK’. By leveraging Royal Mail’s extensive logistics network and Prestwick’s capabilities as a prime cargo-handling facility, this solution is expected to streamline e-commerce logistics, enhancing delivery speeds and efficiency for the growing e-commerce market.”

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It is difficult to know what is not to like about this.

Furthermore, Prestwick Airport said it would, in addition, “shortly announce another strategic partnership with a US airport which aims to establish a new transatlantic cargo corridor, initially focusing on aerospace shipments such as engines, engine parts, and specialised tooling”.

It declared: “The collaboration will promote direct cargo flights between the two airports, which are well-positioned to handle high-value, time-sensitive goods.”

And Prestwick Airport highlighted further opportunities in the same vein.

It said: “This agreement also opens the door to exploring the use of Prestwick as a strategic pit stop on already established cargo routes between the US airport and Europe.”

Prestwick added: “This initiative is set to enhance the efficiency of existing services and create opportunities for further commercial expansion in the future.”

So more good news.

The airport’s relationship with Ryanair has not always been entirely plain sailing.

In relation to the current situation with Ryanair, Prestwick Airport said: “The airport continues to service its scheduled passengers with its long-term relationship with Ryanair and a new five-year agreement for passenger services, resulting in a new winter route this year and an increase in the frequency of flights next summer. The airport remains an important base for Ryanair with an aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility on site employing more than 600 people.”

That all sounds solid enough.

Ryanair is known for its focus on its own financials, so the relationship it has with Prestwick Airport is clearly working for the budget airline. The new winter route and increased flight frequencies next summer are clearly positive developments.

Long may this key relationship continue in a positive manner. And it would, of course, be good to see Prestwick Airport attract additional passenger flights, from Ryanair and other airlines.

Ian Forgie, chief executive of the airport, said: “We are incredibly proud to celebrate our fifth consecutive year of profitability, a milestone that underlines the success of our strategic vision. Our diverse business streams are proving to be robust and adaptable, allowing us to capitalise on growth opportunities even in a challenging market environment.

“The new partnerships with Royal Mail and the US airport highlight our commitment to expanding our cargo operations and establishing Prestwick as a leading hub for e-commerce and aerospace logistics. We look forward to building on these partnerships and driving continued growth for the benefit of Ayrshire and the wider UK economy.”

It is always uplifting to watch the many cargo planes, some of them huge, as well as the Ryanair flights taking off from and landing at Prestwick Airport. There are also a fair number of military flights serviced by the airport.

And there is no doubting the scale of the aerospace cluster around the airport, and its importance to the local economy and to Scotland.

As noted in this column about a year ago, “it is clearly decades since the heyday of Prestwick Airport, previously Scotland’s hub for transatlantic flights”.

However, the airport that some detractors wanted to see abandoned when it hit tough times, and which has a right to feel aggrieved at being used as a political football by some, is harnessing its huge potential as it looks to the future.