Glasgow International Airport (Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Eadar-nàiseanta Ghlaschu) (IATA: GLA, ICAO: EGPF) (formerly Glasgow Abbotsinch Airport) is an international airport in Scotland, located 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) west of Glasgow city centre, near the towns of Paisley and Renfrew in Renfrewshire. In 2011 the airport handled nearly 6.9 million passengers, a 5.1% annual increase, making it the second busiest in Scotland, after Edinburgh Airport, and the eighth busiest airport in the United Kingdom. It is the primary airport serving the Greater Glasgow conurbation and is also the principal transatlantic and direct longhaul entry airport into Scotland.
The airport is owned and operated by BAA, which also owns and operates five other UK airports, and is itself owned by ADI Limited, an international consortium, which includes Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and GIC Special Investments, that is led by the Spanish Ferrovial Group. The airport's largest tenants are British Airways and Loganair (currently franchising using Flybe), the latter using it as a hub. Other major airlines using GLA as a base include BMI Regional, Flybe, EasyJet, Jet2, Thomas Cook Airlines and Thomson Airways.
Glasgow Airport was first opened in 1966 and originally only facilitated flights to other places in the United Kingdom and Europe. The British Airports Authority (BAA) took control of the airport in 1975 and when BAA was privatised in the 1980s, Glasgow Airport began to offer flights to other places around the world, flights which previously were facilitated by Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which was subsequently relegated as the city's secondary airport catering for low cost airlines and charter operators.
The airport was the target of a terrorist attack on June 30, 2007, when a Jeep Cherokee loaded with propane canisters was driven into the main terminal building, causing some damage.
Read more about Glasgow International Airport: History, Today, Plans, Airlines and Destinations, 2011 Traffic Statistics, Accidents and Incidents, Ground Transport
Famous quotes containing the words glasgow and/or airport:
“Moderation has never yet engineered an explosion ....”
—Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945)
“Airplanes are invariably scheduled to depart at such times as 7:54, 9:21 or 11:37. This extreme specificity has the effect on the novice of instilling in him the twin beliefs that he will be arriving at 10:08, 1:43 or 4:22, and that he should get to the airport on time. These beliefs are not only erroneous but actually unhealthy.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)