Prestwick Airport’s chief executive is shaking off the remnants of laryngitis when I interview him in the boardroom, but that does not stop him waxing lyrical about this Scottish Government-owned asset’s successes.

And who could blame him? It has been an impressive performance indeed.

Ian Forgie, as I reported exclusively last week, is retiring on June 30 after eight years at the airport, more than five of these as chief executive. He joined initially as chief financial officer.

Mr Forgie highlights the fact that Prestwick Airport has moved from a roughly £3.5 million annual operating loss to a £3.5m profit since he arrived eight years ago.

These numbers, and others, particularly around the stellar growth of the cargo operations recently, speak for themselves.

And it has been interesting to observe that those who carped so loudly about the Scottish Government’s 2013 rescue of Prestwick Airport, which last December reported a sixth consecutive annual profit, have been making much less noise on this subject in recent times.

A trip airside during my visit to the airport last Thursday to interview Mr Forgie and his successor, Prestwick Airport veteran and operations director Jules Matteoni, underlines just how much has been achieved there in the 16 months or so since I last toured the giant site. And it is important to note that, back in February 2025, things were already on a highly encouraging upward trajectory.

The e-commerce processing operation at Terminal E, where Royal Mail and EVRi each sort the goods bought by UK and Irish consumers on the likes of the Chinese Temu, Shein and TikTok platforms, is very impressive.

What strikes you immediately is the speed of the operation, as well as its proximity to where the cargo planes from China land.

Prestwick Airport now has 15 cargo flights per week both from and to mainland China, with e-commerce goods on the inbound flights, and salmon and other seafood and Scotch whisky being transported on the return legs.

Elsewhere on the huge Prestwick Airport campus, tonnes of Scottish salmon are going on one of these return flights.

When I visited........

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