Why does the state own Presteick Airport?

[hibs0666]

Who's bright idea was this? What is the point?

[Ryan69]

Who's bright idea was this? What is the point?

A bloody waste of space also....it has so much potential,and is a fair size.
You can land any plane there also.

[Speedy]

Stubbs out!

[Keith_M]

I blame Petrie

[NAE NOOKIE]

Never mind that, when the hell is the helipad getting built?

In all honesty its probably because privately run airports don't like the bad publicity of being a refuelling point for rendition flights, so we have to have at least one airport owned by the government.

[Keith_M]

Nope, I've looked up Presteick on Google Maps and STILL can't find it.


Is that the name of the new Airport in St Helena where it's impossible to land a plane?

[HibbySpurs]

Who's bright idea was this? What is the point?

Quite possibly because it cant compete anymore with the two big airports already in the central belt? Despite it's ability to have all sizes of aircraft take off and land the fact that smaller aircraft can now make the trek across the Atlantic or down to the Dubai etc. means the bigger planes aren't as important anymore.

It's no more than a glorified training center these days.

[ronaldo7]

I'm still trying to find out which STATE owns this airport in (insert any country here)

[Keith_M]

Quite possibly because it cant compete anymore with the two big airports already in the central belt? Despite it's ability to have all sizes of aircraft take off and land the fact that smaller aircraft can now make the trek across the Atlantic or down to the Dubai etc. means the bigger planes aren't as important anymore.

It's no more than a glorified training center these days.


It's also the location of the ATS for northern UK and the North Atlantic.

[overdrive]

It is also a dump. The 'departure lounge' is no more than a glorified slots arcade that you might expect to see at Porty beach. We use it not too infrequently as my in-laws' nearest train station is on the same line as the Prestwick Airport station.

[Billy Whizz]

Famous for Elvis stepping on the tarmac, only time he stood on British soil

[Jim44]

..... and they kept insisting that Prestwick airport was 'pure dead brilliant... ' :wink:

[lord bunberry]

I love flying from Prestwick. It's the only airport that you rarely have to queue up to check in and you can get served easily in the bar. Security also takes 2 minutes. Getting from the car park to the terminal with luggage is a bit of a pain. I'm sure the government bought it for a pound to keep it open.

[lord bunberry]

Famous for Elvis stepping on the tarmac, only time he stood on British soil
The bar in the departure lounge is called the elvis bar.

[Smartie]

I'm not 100% sure, but the short answer I think the OP is looking for is that it is not financially viable to be run by a private company, but it provides an essential service to certain people (I am not sure who) so the government bought it and run it for them.

[wookie70]

Who's bright idea was this? What is the point?
It was going to close down so the Government decided to step in to save a vital service and protect jobs. The Private Sector weren't interested as it was making a loss. I see that as a good thing and would whatever colour of Government we had.

[Ryan69]

I'm not 100% sure, but the short answer I think the OP is looking for is that it is not financially viable to be run by a private company, but it provides an essential service to certain people (I am not sure who) so the government bought it and run it for them.

Guantanamo prisoners? Was used as a fuelling up place I believe.

[greenpaper55]

Because wee burnie thought it was a good idea, like most of hers it's turning into a disaster.

[Moulin Yarns]

I love flying from Prestwick. It's the only airport that you rarely have to queue up to check in and you can get served easily in the bar. Security also takes 2 minutes. Getting from the car park to the terminal with luggage is a bit of a pain. I'm sure the government bought it for a pound to keep it open.

And we all know what happened the last time someone paid a pound for a huge white elephant in the west of Scotland :wink:

[blaikie]

Direct rail link
Least likely main uk airport to suffer from fog
Ryanair maintenance hangers and other aerospace companies bases
Pilot training - both civil and military
NATS based there looking after the largest area of European air space

[tcm1875]

Because wee burnie thought it was a good idea, like most of hers it's turning into a disaster.


Really.......?


https://stv.tv/amp/1374964-prestwick-airport-signs-deal-with-houston-in-uk-spaceport-bid/

[Moulin Yarns]

Who's bright idea was this? What is the point?

Why doesn't it surprise me who started this thread? :rolleyes:

[Just Jimmy]

Why start this on the main board?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Moulin Yarns]

ADMINS!

Why is this on the Main Message Board?

[Billy Whizz]

Maybe marathonbet could lay on some planes, for the next time we play Ayr Utd

[monarch]

It's all very well keeping Prestwick open but how does this address our lack of pace and creativity. :confused:

[Oscar T Grouch]

And this is football/Hibs related how?

[Moulin Yarns]

It's all very well keeping Prestwick open but how does this address our lack of pace and creativity. :confused:

We need wingers to fly up the line.

[stoneyburn hibs]

Why doesn't it surprise me who started this thread? :rolleyes:

Hibs 0666 in shock dig at Scottish Government.

[beensaidbefore]

Why start this on the main board?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

Why not skip past if it doesn't interest you?

[beensaidbefore]

ADMINS!

Why is this on the Main Message Board?

Who cares?

[pollution]

..... and they kept insisting that Prestwick airport was 'pure dead brilliant... ' :wink:Any airport with ' dead ' in its logo was always going to fail. Decades ago it was the only Scottish airport allowed to have international flights in Scotland despite Edinburgh and Glasgow demanding them. That was when it was publicly owned, like now.

Nicola hopingthat it becomes a launch pad for outer space, perhaps?

[beensaidbefore]

Any airport with ' dead ' in its logo was always going to fail. Decades ago it was the only Scottish airport allowed to have international flights in Scotland despite Edinburgh and Glasgow demanding them. That was when it was publicly owned, like now.

Nicola hopingthat it becomes a launch pad for outer space, perhaps?

Perhaps for all the aliens post brexit...



Il get my coat

[barcahibs]

Perhaps for all the aliens post brexit...



Il get my coat

Strategic use I'd guess. Next door to Holy Loch which might be useful to some people. Was one of the major sites associated with REFORGER which was the NATO plan to move US troops from America to Europe in case of war. Lovely long runway for landing heavy bombers and running naval patrol aircraft out of.

Some rumours that SR-71s and U-2s flew out of it during the cold war but i don't know, you'd think the airspace would be awful busy between them and all the UFOs being flown out of Machrihanish.

Future spaceport? It'll take longer to get to Prestwick than to Mars before long. Plus not sure that i want future Alien ambassadors to Earth to have the West of Scotland as their first experience of human civilisation.

[ronaldo7]

Who's bright idea was this? What is the point?

I've got no idea why they'd want to save all those jobs eh. The *******s are at it again, in the Highlands.

Pesky nats.

https://t.co/8FfxgaRp9Q

[snooky]

Prestwick could always charge a pound for drop-off to keep it open.
Mind you, parking at the Gyle would probably widny work so good.

[RyeSloan]

I've got no idea why they'd want to save all those jobs eh. The *******s are at it again, in the Highlands.

Pesky nats.

https://t.co/8FfxgaRp9Q

Although I'm not quite sure what it entails when the article states the Scottish government is guaranteeing the power purchases this seems like a sensible deal..government working with the private sector to gain substantial investment of private funds to maintain or grow a vital business for the area.

Prestwick on the other hand looks anything but...now approaching £40m in government loans for an unspecified end goal in an asset no one else wanted. It will be interesting to see if we will ever see that money again.

[JeMeSouviens]

Although I'm not quite sure what it entails when the article states the Scottish government is guaranteeing the power purchases this seems like a sensible deal..government working with the private sector to gain substantial investment of private funds to maintain or grow a vital business for the area.

Prestwick on the other hand looks anything but...now approaching £40m in government loans for an unspecified end goal in an asset no one else wanted. It will be interesting to see if we will ever see that money again.

http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/docs/central/2015/nr_150224_prestwick_airport.pdf

I only read the summary but it is reasonably positive. Certainly doesn't scream SNPBAD a la hibs0666.

[Moulin Yarns]

Although I'm not quite sure what it entails when the article states the Scottish government is guaranteeing the power purchases this seems like a sensible deal..government working with the private sector to gain substantial investment of private funds to maintain or grow a vital business for the area.

Prestwick on the other hand looks anything but...now approaching £40m in government loans for an unspecified end goal in an asset no one else wanted. It will be interesting to see if we will ever see that money again.

6 years before loans reach £40m

The latest available business plan for the airport (May 2014) estimates a total loan funding requirement for Glasgow Prestwick Airport of £39.6 million up to the financial year 2021/22

In the meantime

The Scottish Government is assessing a number of potential future opportunities for Glasgow Prestwick Airport. These will take time to put into effect and it may be some years before it can achieve its aim of selling the airport back to the private sector. We will continue to monitor developments and will follow up this work at a later date to provide further information on the airport’s performance in subsequent years.



I fancy a zeppelin port for transatlantic flights

[lucky]

It was going to close down so the Government decided to step in to save a vital service and protect jobs. The Private Sector weren't interested as it was making a loss. I see that as a good thing and would whatever colour of Government we had.

Spot on.

[ronaldo7]

Although I'm not quite sure what it entails when the article states the Scottish government is guaranteeing the power purchases this seems like a sensible deal..government working with the private sector to gain substantial investment of private funds to maintain or grow a vital business for the area.

Prestwick on the other hand looks anything but...now approaching £40m in government loans for an unspecified end goal in an asset no one else wanted. It will be interesting to see if we will ever see that money again.

It's about choices as well you know. We also make choices not to penalise disabled people who need their spare bedroom.

Governments all over the world give out loans to keep people/get people into employment. I for one am happy they stepped in.

[RyeSloan]

It's about choices as well you know. We also make choices not to penalise disabled people who need their spare bedroom.

Governments all over the world give out loans to keep people/get people into employment. I for one am happy they stepped in.

I'm not sure of the connection between your two examples.

Personally I think it's a bit of a folly investing so much into an airport that doesn't really seem to have any demand for its use. It was loss making before and is loss making now. Seems pretty clear the airport was purchased without any real thought and was done so for political reasons. A 'plan' that suggests over £40m of loans (aka losses) and over a decade before it 'might' be sold back to the private sector is a nonsense.

I'm also amazed at how many comments support the concept of a loss making enterprise with public money simply to protect jobs. Where does such a policy stop and is that really the best long term use of public funds?

[ronaldo7]

I'm not sure of the connection between your two examples.

Personally I think it's a bit of a folly investing so much into an airport that doesn't really seem to have any demand for its use. It was loss making before and is loss making now. Seems pretty clear the airport was purchased without any real thought and was done so for political reasons. A 'plan' that suggests over £40m of loans (aka losses) and over a decade before it 'might' be sold back to the private sector is a nonsense.

I'm also amazed at how many comments support the concept of a loss making enterprise with public money simply to protect jobs. Where does such a policy stop and is that really the best long term use of public funds?

They're not connected, unless you see them in the round of a government who's governing for all the people:greengrin

Public money supports many jobs, and you'll find the most expensive ones up the clyde at Faslane.:aok:

[Colr]

Although I'm not quite sure what it entails when the article states the Scottish government is guaranteeing the power purchases this seems like a sensible deal..government working with the private sector to gain substantial investment of private funds to maintain or grow a vital business for the area.

Prestwick on the other hand looks anything but...now approaching £40m in government loans for an unspecified end goal in an asset no one else wanted. It will be interesting to see if we will ever see that money again.

Good economics to take money from successful businesses and give it to unsuccessful businesses. Only that way can they restrict these self-centred successful companies from re-investing in themselves to create more jobs and instead help out failing businesses keeping the jobs there instead.

[One Day Soon]

Good economics to take money from successful businesses and give it to unsuccessful businesses. Only that way can they restrict these self-centred successful companies from re-investing in themselves to create more jobs and instead help out failing businesses keeping the jobs there instead.


I wonder what logical criteria, if any, are at work here. For a Scottish Government solely interested in preserving employment they didn't seem to care too much when Hall's of Broxburn was closed at the cost of 1,700 jobs.

So what makes one sector, plant or location worthy of Scottish Government subsidy and not another? Why no pork barrel for pork processors but plenty for Prestwick?

[Moulin Yarns]

I wonder what logical criteria, if any, are at work here. For a Scottish Government solely interested in preserving employment they didn't seem to care too much when Hall's of Broxburn was closed at the cost of 1,700 jobs.

So what makes one sector, plant or location worthy of Scottish Government subsidy and not another? Why no pork barrel for pork processors but plenty for Prestwick?


6 months before the Dutch owners announced the closure of Halls they had secured £2 million funding from Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland (Government funding) but never used it. To claim the Government didn't care is not true. But there were bids to buy the plant, all rejected by the Dutch owners.

[One Day Soon]

6 months before the Dutch owners announced the closure of Halls they had secured £2 million funding from Scottish Enterprise and Skills Development Scotland (Government funding) but never used it. To claim the Government didn't care is not true. But there were bids to buy the plant, all rejected by the Dutch owners.


An offer of £2 million of - presumably training - support isn't quite the same as buying the whole airport, taking it into the public sector and then underwriting £40 million worth of open-ended running costs is it? And that all without a plan of how you might make it successful when the private sector couldn't manage it.

Not sure we'll be doing the McSpaceStation any time soon, but we do eat a lot of sausages...

[Moulin Yarns]

An offer of £2 million of - presumably training - support isn't quite the same as buying the whole airport, taking it into the public sector and then underwriting £40 million worth of open-ended running costs is it? And that all without a plan of how you might make it successful when the private sector couldn't manage it.

Not sure we'll be doing the McSpaceStation any time soon, but we do eat a lot of sausages...

My point, and there was only £500k for training support, is that the government had given development grants to the owners, who were hell bent on closing it anyway. It wasn't a case of trying to save it, the money was already available to the Dutch company to develop the plant, which they chose to close. Offers were on the table to buy it, which they knocked back. Very different to Prestwick.

[lucky]

Halls were not interested in selling as it would be a competitor to them. They wanted it closed down.