Ian McConnell: Glasgow Airport chief flags Edinburgh lure as he bids to regain share Glasgow Airport chief says 'goal is not to steal anything that wasn’t naturally ours back from Edinburgh'
The new head of Glasgow Airport made no bones about its loss of market share in recent times as he talked this week about a huge investment in transforming the main terminal building.
Sector veteran Kam Jandu at the same time seemed to exude optimism about the prospects for the airport as he highlighted ambitions to build connectivity significantly and voiced hopes that Emirates’ Glasgow to Dubai route could increase from daily to double-daily.
One thing that was striking in my interview with Mr Jandu was that he seemed far less combative than Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar on the question of competition between Scotland’s two biggest airports.
That said, Mr Jandu is clearly determined to regain what he considers to be Glasgow Airport’s "natural" market share.
In an interview with The Herald in February, Mr Dewar told me: “Obviously Glasgow is the closest of our competition. We will be out there telling people that if Scotland is on your radar Edinburgh is the place to be.”
Like Mr Jandu, the Edinburgh Airport chief did highlight the wider competition facing Edinburgh Airport.
Mr Dewar said: “We have got to show why we are better than Vienna, or we are better than Barcelona or we are better than Dublin. Glasgow is part of that. It is largely about the fundamentals of the market and why they (the airlines) will be successful here.”
However, his directness in declaring “if Scotland is on your radar Edinburgh is the place to be” was eye-catching.
And it seems to contrast with Mr Jandu’s stance.
The new head of Glasgow Airport said: “Our conversations with the airlines - it is not an either or [between Glasgow and Edinburgh].”
He highlighted the fact that the likes of Jet2 and easyJet fly from both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports.
Mr Jandu also emphasised: “This isn’t us against Edinburgh.”
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