Glasgow Airport fightback begins with £350m investment

The new owners of Glasgow Airport have announced plans to drive a huge increase in passenger numbers.

AviAlliance aims to add more than a million passengers per year by 2030, by boosting the number of short-haul holiday flights and and increasing its transatlantic business.

The company completed a deal to buy AGS - the owners of Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports - in January for £1.53bn.

It has now announced a £350m investment in the three sites - with the bulk of it going into Glasgow.

AGS Airport CEO Kam Jandu hopes the investment will signal a new era for the terminal, which has lagged behind its east coast rival, Edinburgh Airport, since the pandemic.

He sees budget airlines as a key to growth and wants to make it smoother for short-haul jets to land, turn around and take off.

He told BBC Scotland News: "For the low-cost airlines, it's key to them. If their airplane isn't in the air, it's costing them money.

"So they want to be able to touch down, disembark, then embark within the space of 35-40 minutes."

That means re-arranging the stands at the terminal building so passengers can get on and off planes more easily.

His goal is 5-6% growth in passenger numbers year-on-year, until Glasgow handles over 10 million passengers a year by 2030.

As well as European sunshine destinations, they want extra flights to America - and it seems Donald Trump's turbulent spell in the White House might enable that.

Glasgow Airport struggled during Covid.

It was forced to shed thousands of staff when flights were grounded for months on end.

Since then it has bounced back, but it still sits behind Edinburgh, which carried almost 16 million passengers last year.

By contrast, Glasgow airport expects 8.5 million passengers this year.

So there's catching up to do.

The new plans focus on improving the terminal building - more seats, shops, cafes and restaurants for waiting passengers in smarter surroundings.

It is hoped that among them will be passengers from Glasgow postcodes who currently head east to Edinburgh to take a flight.

"Our goal is to regain share that we've lost to Edinburgh. We have the golden ingredient - demand, from the wider Glasgow catchment area," said Mr Jandu.

"We want to get back what we've lost, and also drive new markets to short-haul European destinations, which we haven't really recovered since Covid".

The airport is eyeing up transatlantic flights too.

They see Scottish passengers flying to America via Heathrow, and they want to offer a direct option.

But could Donald Trump's presidency put off Scottish passengers from travelling Stateside?

"Yes it does concern me, but it lends itself to an opportunity," said the CEO.

With American airlines carrying fewer passengers to and from Canada, Mexico and Europe, aircraft are going spare.

And these could potentially operate on routes to and from Scotland.

Time will tell how that works out.

The investment has been welcomed by the Scottish government.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes joined AGS bosses at the airport.

Her presence alone suggested a change of tone for the SNP government since it parted company from the Greens in government.

The Greens were, and remain, unenthusiastic about air travel, because of the greenhouse gas emissions that go with it.

But Ms Forbes insisted this investment was compatible with Scotland achieving net zero by 2045.

"This is hugely exciting for Scotland", she said. "Our priority is to attract inward investment and see infrastructure develop.

"To see the level of investment here is exactly what we're trying to achieve as a government," she said.

She added that the extra spending would hopefully increase the number of routes.

"That will hopefully increase the number of people travelling - because we're a small nation, an island nation and therefore having that international connectivity is critical for our prosperity. "