Scottish Blog

Prestwick Airport

Prestwick Airport is the largest commercial airport in Scotland.

Prestwick Airport is located forty six kilometers outside of Glasgow, its location puts it within service range of both Glasgow and Ayrshire and technically it is located in the south Ayrshire district. Currently, Prestwick Airport has two runways, one concrete runway of almost three kilometers in length and one asphalt runway of almost two kilometers in length, these runways can cater for Boeing 747, 737 and Airbus aero planes. Officially Prestwick Airport is called Glasgow Prestwick Airport.

Prestwick Airport was constructed in 1934, primarily to be used as an air force training ground, by 1935 an air tower, hangar and a number of offices were constructed on the Prestwick Airport grounds. The airport faced even higher expansion during World War II as it was used as a base for American aircraft traffic. In 1938, the Prestwick Airport grounds were expanded to allow for passengers traffic. In part this is due to the local geographical profile, the weather at the airport is reputed to be one of the best in the United Kingdom. As such, Prestwick Airport was the first in Scotland to allow trans-Atlantic passenger flights.

Prestwick Airport has been experiencing an unprecedented rate of growth in the last ten years. Mainly this is due to increased passenger traffic with “no-frills” airlines. In 2006 Prestwick Airport saw over 2.3 million passengers on 48,000 planes, to thirty six national and international destinations. Amongst these recent growths, Prestwick Airport has also been host to the arrival of world leaders for the G8 summits. It is also the only place in the United Kingdom where Elvis Presley set foot on the ground. On a bi-annual basis Prestwick Airport also plays host to the Prestwick Airshow, although the last instance of the air show was in 1992.