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Glasgow Prestwick Airport Information
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Cheap Glasgow Prestwick Airport Parking » Airport Information>History History of Glasgow Prestwick AirportDespite rumours of aircraft being in the area from 1903, the first historically correct data shows that the beginnings of Prestwick Airport began in 1934 when several planes began using the meadowland area at the end of Monkton Village. A year later, the first plans for a genuine airport were apparent when Scottish Aviation Ltd founder, David McIntyre, acquired 348 acres of Ayrshire countryside and put up a control tower, a hangar, some offices and lecture facilities. This was behind Orangefield House. In 1938, passenger facilities were added to the site.
During the war, Prestwick Airport became a manufacturing site, which continued to produce planes up until 1998. Scottish Aviation did the production. The airport received planes from the USA on a lend-lease program, up to 300 per day at times. The production facility expanded a lot during these years.
The Palace of Engineering, which had been at Bellahouston Park in Glasgow for the 1938 Empire Exhibition, was moved brick-by-brick to Prestwick Airport. It still stands at this airport and is owned by British Aerospace Engineering Systems.
The US Air Force opened a base on the Monkton side of the airfield in 1953. The base remained in US hands until 1966 when they discontinued using the area. It is now used by HMS Gannet from which a search and rescue service is provided by No. 771 Naval Air Squadron Sea Kings.
Some activities and events during the 1960s made history for Prestwick airport. In1960 the legendary rock and roll singer, Elvis Pressley, made a stop at the airport. He is one of the most famous people to have visited Prestwick. Plans for expansion of the airport’s facilities, which were drawn up in 1958, began to become reality. The new control tower was ready in 1962. The new terminal was opened by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, in 1964. 1966 was a sad time for the airport when they had to tear down Orangefield House to make room for a new taxiway. A few momentos of Orangefield House have been preserved at the airport.
In the later 1970s British Airways ceased regular passenger air service to Prestwick. The airline still used the airport for pilot training intermittently, sometimes to train Concorde pilots.
The future of Prestwick Airport became uncertain in 1991 when the British Airports Authority decided to move all of Scotland’s transatlantic traffic to Glasgow. The idea included selling Prestwick. Passenger services fell sharply soon after this. The next year was the last of Prestwick’s semi-annual air shows which had begun in 1967.
In 1994, things began to look better for the airport. It built its own railway station on the Glasgow-Ayr line which runs directly past the airport. Soon afterward, Ryanair opened a route to Dublin from Prestwick. The airport began seeing good results from these events. Ryanair opened several more routes from Prestwick Airport. Ryanair now uses the airport as one of its maintenance hubs and has 20 destinations from Prestwick. Late in the decade, several low cost airlines moved into the Prestwick market. This made the airport have more passenger traffic than ever before.
In 2005 Infratil, a New Zealand company which owns Prestwick Airport, completed a three million pound remodelling program. In July of this year, the airport became Scotland’s entry point to the G8 Summit.
Today, the Prestwick Airport is used for refuelling by the US Air Force, the Canadian Armed Forces and the RAF. Cargo traffic is growing at the airport as well with 747 cargo carriers entering through Prestwick. All of this is in addition to the swelling passenger traffic.
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