Glasgow Airport announces 'comprehensive transformation' of terminal

The Scotsman

Glasgow Airport announces 'comprehensive transformation' of terminal  Biggest upgrade for 11 years to “significantly enhance passenger experience” Scotland’s second busiest air terminal is to undergo a “comprehensive transformation” as part of a £350 million improvements package for the three airports owned by the AGS group.  The upgrade to Glasgow’s main terminal will create “best in class operational and retail facilities” to “significantly enhance the passenger experience”, according to the company, which also runs Aberdeen and Southampton. Work on expanding the airside part of the terminal beyond security for more shops, originally planned for around 2030, is due to start this year and expected to be completed in 2027.  The west end of the check in hall was also be expanded, along with the T2 check in area at the east end of the building  It is likely to be seen as a major shot in the arm for what was Scotland’s pre-eminent airport until being eclipsed by Edinburgh in 2007, which now carries about twice as many passengers.  AGS Airports’ new chief has also pledged to “strengthen our connectivity” in a signal of his determination to win new routes after airlines such as Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic switched their focus to Edinburgh.  Glasgow boasts Scotland’s only Airbus A380 “superjumbo” service - Emirates to Dubai - but has regular flights on only one route to the United States - Orlando - compared to seven from Edinburgh. Glasgow will also want to build on its advantage of having a more spacious terminal than its east coast rival, which has been criticised by some passengers for failing to keep up with its rapid growth to 16 million passengers a year.  Glasgow handled 8.2m passengers in 2024 and expects 8.5m this year.  The biggest investment in the airports since AGS was formed 11 years ago, which was announced on Wednesday, follows the completion of its sale to airports group AviAlliance in January for £1.5 billion.  The five-year spending programme will also include on Glasgow and Aberdeen’s airfield infrastructure and “energy efficiency initiatives”, as well as redevelopment at Southampton Airport, which has been able to take larger aircraft since its runway was extended two years ago.  AGS also announced its new chair as Charles Hammond, a former chief executive of Forth Ports, whose majority stakeholder is AviAlliance’s Canadian pension firm owner, PSP Investments.

Transcript

00:00I'm Alastair Dalton, the Scotsman's Transport Correspondent at Glasgow Airport.

00:05Scotland's second busiest, but losing many passengers, routes and airlines to Edinburgh.

00:11It wants to fight back by announcing today a major investment programme to transform its terminal.

00:18It'll get the majority of £350 million of investment, also to be spent on Aberdeen and Southampton airports.

00:27The upgrade is due to start later this year and may take about two years to complete,

00:34vastly improving the passenger experience airside once they've gone through security.

00:40Right now behind me have some renderings of what will be part of that detail conversation

00:45and it's our expectation in the next three to four months for that to crystallise.

00:49But certainly what we do need to improve is the terminal.

00:52Especially after security, we need to improve the retail and the dining experience for one,

00:58but we also need to improve the gate areas for another because it's all very well building airport space,

01:03but if you don't have the functionality, it doesn't make any sense.

01:06So we're in consultation with our assisting airline partners and potential new ones

01:10to make sure that we are meeting gates and turn around space requirements that fit their own aspirations.

01:18Because a lot of the new aircraft and the ones that will come here, the low-cost airlines,

01:22they want to turn their aircraft relatively quickly.

01:24And that talks to a lot of our new modernised gate designs that we're working on.

01:28I think one of the first things that we need to do is make sure we've got the commitment from airlines to grow.

01:33We have a great relationship with all of the airlines that are situated in the terminal today,

01:36from Jet 2 to EasyJet, just to name two, but equally we're having good conversations with airlines who used to fly here,

01:42who are willing to come back, but they're making clear that one of the ingredients for them to come back

01:47is the right commercial offer underpinned by the right operational model.

01:52So we've had good conversations with them, and they're also looking for some support

01:55from our regional stakeholders in government and also Scottish government as well

01:59to help with that conversation because infrastructure for them is fundamentally important, as it is for us as well.

02:04So we think it's not just a combination of what we... it's not just one thing that we can do.

02:09We need to align with everyone in the city and in central government to work with us

02:13because it's disappointing for us as operators of Glasgow, in this example,

02:18to see a fair number of the passengers who live in the Glasgow Cashman go into Edinburgh.

02:23And they do that simply not because it's a better airport, it's because they have the flights from there.

02:27And we know that we were previously the biggest airport in the country,

02:31and we certainly will remain the biggest city in the country.

02:34So my goal is not to steal too much back from Edinburgh at all,

02:37because I think both cities offer something complementary,

02:40but it's also to get airlines to put some more capacity back here.

02:43Because once they do that, then passengers will come back here

02:46because everybody likes to fly from their local airport,

02:49and in our case it's Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton.

02:52I think a lot of the short European routes are the ones that we really need to get back in.

02:55So we don't have a Milan service, we don't have a Copenhagen, Madrid.

02:59Then we have underserved routes. Paris is underserved,

03:01compared to what it was previously and what we need to have more connectivity of.

03:05And then several others in the short-haul European ones that offer some destinations as well.

03:09Incrementally, airlines are growing their fleet and they need to allocate their fleets in different directions.

03:14They are adding destinations, so we've seen several new routes this year.

03:18But also we're trying to work on some long-haul connectivity as well.

03:21For example, the east coast of the US, New York, operated here previously.

03:26We know that there's a lot of demand, and people are getting from here to there,

03:29they just don't have a direct connection to do that at the moment.

03:31So we're in good conversations with all the airlines in the US,

03:34and also with the European airlines who can take passengers from here to the US,

03:38in terms of looking at having direct flight services from Glasgow to the US.

03:42We know that our friends along to the east are probably going to struggle with capacity at some point as well.

03:47So there's a limit to what airlines can offer in terms of growth there.

03:51So we believe, again, it's back to working with the city and the region about the infrastructure piece,

03:57about making connectivity back to Glasgow as strong as it possibly can be.

04:01But many airports around the world coexist in close proximity and can be equally successful.

04:06So we don't see that as a barrier to our dreams of growing the business by 4% or 5% in terms of passenger growth every year.

04:12Well, the £350 million investment in AGS, which obviously owns Glasgow Airport and Aberdeen Airport,

04:21is a huge mark of confidence in these airports, but also in the Scottish economy,

04:27reflecting the importance we place on international connectivity and growing and developing the Scottish economy.

04:35The First Minister has tasked me with attracting, securing investment in our key infrastructure,

04:42like airports, amongst other things, and using that to unlock the potential of the Scottish economy.

04:49And the announcement today is exactly in line with that vision.

04:53Well, we're a small nation and it's important that our airports are complementary to one another.

04:59And with the £350 million investment here, across Glasgow and Aberdeen,

05:07there's going to be a transformation of the experience.

05:10There's going to be a facelift, there's going to be new and improved business opportunities for local businesses here.

05:19And you know that people will often choose which airport to fly from based on their experience,

05:25but also based on the route and the connectivity.

05:28And this is an opportunity for Glasgow to secure new routes, to work with new airlines,

05:34and we are willing to work with them and support their endeavours in that regard.

05:39And I think that makes the point for why this investment in Glasgow is so transformational.

05:46It's a huge investment.

05:47It's the biggest investment in AGS since it was formed, and that gives you a sense of the scale of it.

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