Glasgow Prestwick airport’s management has told a Scottish parliamentary committee that it is looking at an expression of interest in the airport, which is currently under government ownership.
Speaking before the economy and fair work committee on 6 December, Prestwick airport chief executive Ian Forgie said the approach was undergoing an “early process of diligence”, without elaborating on the party’s identity.
The government acquired ownership of Prestwick from New Zealand-based operator Infratil, for a token sum, in 2013.
Prestwick chairman Forsyth Black told the committee that the acquisition was a “low point in the airport’s history” and that it “struggled to perform and adapt” over the subsequent five years.
But he adds that the airport has since “turned around”, despite the impact of the pandemic.
Full-year accounts for the airport’s owner and operator, TS Prestwick Holdco, show that it made an operating profit of £2.1 million for the 12 months to 31 March 2023. The accounts state that the company has maintained a “positive trajectory” for the past three years.
Forgie told the committee that, just prior to the pandemic, the airport company was “95% through” a sale process.
“But unfortunately the pandemic hit and the bidder had to withdraw,” he says.
Forgie adds that that the airport is profitable and a “far more attractive asset” than it had been at the time of the government’s takeover.
While the company aims to return the airport to private ownership, Black says approaches from bidders can be “very distracting” and “take up a lot of time”, and that a “pre-filter” has been put in place to distinguish serious offers from those which do not meet the basic criteria.
“Otherwise we’ll end up down a rabbit hole of [senior managers] doing nothing but managing potentially spurious bids and not paying attention to the day job,” he adds.
The operator has a diverse strategy which focuses particularly on cargo, but also addresses passenger traffic, military operations, and other aspects such as fuelling.
It is also trying to develop Prestwick as a spaceport with horizontal launch capability, and is building a safety case for the UK regulator. Forgie points out that this is a “complex and specialised” market and “not something anyone enters into lightly”.
