AIRPORT VISION FOR FUTURE HAMPERED BY ‘UNPROFESSIONAL’ RAILWAY SERVICE
26th July 2008By Steven Vass, Deputy Business Editor
PRESTWICK AIRPORT is to unveil plans to more than double passenger numbers within a decade, but says it depends on improvements to the "unprofessional" train service to Glasgow
The airport's master plan for the future, which will be published within the next two months, aims to raise passenger numbers beyond five million a year from last year's 2.4 million.
But with as many as 450,000 passengers a year either unable to get a train or bus from Glasgow early enough for their flight or landing after the last bus or train has gone in the evenings, the airport is worried its main customer, Ryanair, will be discouraged from adding new Prestwick routes.
Graeme Sweenie, the airport's group general manager for commercial and property, said: "Most of our growth will come through based aircraft Ryanair planes that spend the night at the airport and cover the early morning and late-night flights, so it will be a problem that's continually growing.
"Ryanair's decision to base here is driven by passenger demand and that's directly related to how easy it is to get to Prestwick."
Brian Donohoe, the Labour MP for Ayr, will this week write to Transport Scotland and ScotRail operator First Group demanding meetings to "see how we can take things forward".
He said: "It's clear that the bus link is now being overreached. It's becoming a problem."
The airport also feels restricted by the fact that rush-hour trains regularly arrive at the airport from Ayr already full to capacity, and that the train service drops from half-hourly to hourly on Sunday evenings - a key time for people returning from weekend city breaks or arriving from abroad for Monday morning business.
This encourages Scottish passengers to park their cars at the airport, placing extra traffic on the roads, while large numbers of foreign visitors have to rely on expensive taxis or the slow early morning/late-night airport bus.
The airport admitted it regularly received complaints from angry passengers.
Prestwick chief executive Mark Rodwell said: "Assuming that low-cost carriers continue to dominate traffic at the airport, the early morning/late night bus services we currently provide to both Glasgow and Edinburgh will be inadequate and unsustainable if we achieve our vision for future passenger growth."
Sweenie added: "In most major European cities, transport seems to run almost 24-7."
Executives have had numerous meetings with quango Transport Scotland and infrastructure operator Network Rail over the years to find a solution. Transport Scotland recently announced plans to extend the numbers of Ayrshire train carriages from three or six to eight and lengthen platforms, which has been welcomed by the airport but seen as only partly solving the problem.
The airport wants longer operating hours to cover the first and last flights of the day; more trains than the current two an hour, especially during peak times; and an express service that misses out many stops between the airport and Glasgow Central station.
With these changes, it believes it could raise the proportion of passengers that use the train from 20% to 30% each year - an increase of 200,000.
Bridget Dowling, UK sales and marketing manager for Ryanair, said: "Any enhancement of the service would be greatly welcomed and we are standing by to see what can be achieved.
"It would be an important factor in whether we put in more routes, although not necessarily a deciding factor."
Donohoe added that he believed it would be reasonable for the airport to contribute to the cost of any fledgling service, although Sweenie said it was unwilling to do so.
A Transport Scotland spokesman said: "Increasing the current number of rail services to the airport, or to Ayrshire in general, is currently constrained by the heavy use of the Ayrshire route by both passenger and freight traffic and Network Rail's need to undertake essential inspection and maintenance of the track.
However, timetables are kept under constant review and Transport Scotland will continue to work with the rail industry in Scotland to introduce better services for passengers wherever possible."
A spokesman for Network Rail said that although it had held informal meetings with the airport operator about the situation, it had not received the formal approach from Transport Scotland necessary to consider making changes.
©2008 newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved
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