As we await the outcome of a takeover approach for Prestwick Airport, a recent conversation with Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar came to mind.

Mr Dewar talked about Prestwick Airport when I travelled to Edinburgh Airport to interview him earlier this year.

His response to the question about the Ayrshire airport was relatively brief but, not surprisingly given Mr Dewar does not seem to be a man who beats about the bush, it was straight to the point.

His thoughts on Prestwick Airport as a passenger operation, specifically in the context of the Scottish Government’s ownership of the asset, were somewhat predictable.

After all, the top brass at Glasgow Airport and Edinburgh Airport have for years made their views on this known.

Mr Dewar declared: “I have been on the record, and we have been on the record, as have Glasgow.”

He highlighted his view that the Scottish Government support for Prestwick Airport had been “unhelpful, unfair and not very productive”.

It was a punchy response.

What was far more attention-grabbing, however, was Mr Dewar’s view on the cargo business at Prestwick and the engineering operations at the Ayrshire airport.

His remarks on this front might not quite have been effusive but they were probably a lot closer to that than may have been expected, given the generally robust comments from Edinburgh Airport and Glasgow Airport over the years relating to the Scottish Government’s backing of Prestwick Airport.

The Scottish Government advanced loans of £43.4 million to the Ayrshire airport, known officially as Glasgow Prestwick, after buying it for £1 in 2013 from Infratil of New Zealand.

Mr Dewar offered his view, during the interview on February 4, that Prestwick Airport would “be very successful” if it was “operating as a cargo and........

© Herald Scotland