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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