Glasgow Prestwick Airport (IATA: PIK, ICAO: EGPK) is Glasgow's second airport, it also serves the Greater Glasgow urban area, situated 1 NM (1.9 km; 1.2 mi) northeast of the town of Prestwick in South Ayrshire and 32 miles from the city centre of Glasgow.
In physical terms, Prestwick is Scotland's largest commercial airfield, although in passenger traffic terms it sits in fourth place after Edinburgh Airport, Glasgow International, and Aberdeen Airport all of which are operated by BAA. Passenger traffic peaked in 2007 following ten years of rapid growth, driven in part by the boom in no-frills airlines, especially from Ryanair who is Prestwick's biggest tenant and uses the airport as a hub. Since 2007 there has been a significant reduction in passenger traffic with 1.3 million passengers passing through the airport in 2011, a 22% annual reduction.
On 8 March 2012 airport owner Infratil announced that they had placed the airfield up for sale. The Chief Executive Marco Bogoievski said that the selling of the airport was a "no regret" decision.
Read more about Glasgow Prestwick Airport: History, Facts and Figures, Future, Transport Links, Incidents and Accidents, Prestwick Air Show
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“A tragic irony of life is that we so often achieve success or financial independence after the chief reason for which we sought it has passed away.”
—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)