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Glasgow Airport

Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport (IATA: GLA[4], ICAO: EGPF) (Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Ghlaschu), formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport in Scotland. It is located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, 8.6 nautical miles (15.9 km; 9.9 mi) west[1] of Glasgow city centre. In 2019, the airport handled 8.84 million passengers, an 8.4% annual decrease, making it the second-busiest in Scotland, after Edinburgh Airport, and the ninth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom.

For similarly named airports, see Glasgow Airport (disambiguation).

Glasgow Airport

Scots: Glesga Airport
Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Ghlaschu

Public

AGS Airports

Glasgow Airport Ltd.

Abbotsinch, Glasgow, Scotland

2 May 1966 (1966-05-02)

Loganair

26 ft / 8 m

55°52′19″N 004°25′59″W / 55.87194°N 4.43306°W / 55.87194; -4.43306

www.glasgowairport.com

7,355,987

7,355,987

Increase 11.4%

74,563

Increase 5.9%

The airport is owned and operated by AGS Airports which also owns and operates Aberdeen and Southampton airports. It was previously owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings (formerly known as BAA).[5] Loganair are headquartered at the airport and have a maintenance hangar here. Other major airlines using Glasgow as a base are easyJet, Jet2.com and TUI Airways.


Glasgow Airport was opened in 1966 and originally flights only operated to other places in the United Kingdom and Europe. Glasgow Airport began to offer flights to other places around the world, flights which previously used Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which was subsequently relegated as the city's secondary airport catering for Ryanair and freight operators.

Plans[edit]

In 2005, BAA published a consultation paper[40] for the development of the airport. The consultation paper included proposals for a second runway parallel to and to the north-west of the existing runway 05/23; redevelopment and enlargement of the East (low-cost) pier to connect directly with Terminal 2; and an additional International Pier to the west of the existing International Pier. There were plans for a new rail terminal, joined to the airport's passenger terminal and Multistorey car park. On 29 November 2006, the Scottish Parliament gave the go-ahead for the new railway station as part of the Glasgow Airport Rail Link to Glasgow Central station, originally due for completion in 2011. However, on 17 September 2009, due to escalating costs, the project was cancelled by the Scottish Government.[41][42]


BAA's plans, which are expected to cost some £290 million over the next 25 years, come in response to a forecasted trebling of annual passenger numbers passing through the airport by 2030. The current figure of 9.4 million passengers passing through the airport is expected to rise to more than 24 million by 2030.


As of late 2017, there are plans to build a light rail link that will connect the city centre to the airport via Govan, with plans already underway to begin construction of the project after the cancellation of the original Glasgow Airport Rail Link project.[43]

Air ambulance services[edit]

The airport is also one of four bases for the Scottish air ambulance services which are operated by Gama Aviation.[65]

A Norwegian Arado Ar 196A crashed near Glasgow in April 1940.

On 3 September 1999, a carrying nine Airtours staff from Glasgow to Aberdeen on a transfer flight, crashed minutes after takeoff near the town of Linwood, Renfrewshire. Eight people were killed and three seriously injured. No one on the ground was hurt.[67] The Air Accident Investigation Branch determined the aircraft had developed an engine malfunction during takeoff. Although the captain decided to return to the airfield, he mistakenly identified the working engine as the faulty one and shut it down, causing the aircraft to crash.[68] A fatal accident inquiry was also held,[67] which reached the same conclusion.[69]

Cessna 404

On 30 June 2007, a group of extremists by ramming a Jeep Cherokee into the entrance of the main terminal which set the car on fire. There was some damage to the airport. One of the perpetrators died in the hospital and the others were jailed.[70]

attacked the airport

In August 2019, two drunken United Airlines pilots tried to fly a plane but were stopped by local authorities. They were arrested for being drunk. The plane was to leave for New York City.

[71]

McCloskey, Keith. Glasgow's Airports: Renfrew and Abbotsinch. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press Ltd., 2009.  978-0-7524-5077-3.

ISBN

Smith, David J. Action Stations, Volume 7: Military airfields of Scotland, the North-East and Northern Ireland. Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK: Patrick Stephens Ltd., 1983  0-85059-563-0.

ISBN

Sturtivant, R; Hamlin, J; Halley, J (1997). Royal Air Force flying training and support units. UK: Air-Britain (Historians).  0-85130-252-1.

ISBN

Official website

Media related to Glasgow International Airport at Wikimedia Commons