Prestwick Airport has stayed firmly in the headlines in the past month with some very positive news on the cargo side of its business.

As many people continued to focus on what might transpire from an “active bid” for the Ayrshire airport, which has been owned by the Scottish Government since it was bought in a £1 rescue deal from Infratil of New Zealand in 2013, the team at Prestwick unveiled a major new business win.

Ian Forgie, chief executive of Prestwick Airport, hailed this agreement with China Southern Air Logistics as a “game changer”.

In doing so, he echoed the phrase used by Nico Le Roux, head of cargo operations at Prestwick, about e-commerce flights in February, after the airport won major business from Hong Kong. It has been fascinating to observe, and write about, Prestwick Airport’s big push on the cargo side of its business, and its focus on winning e-commerce traffic.

Mr Le Roux in February revealed the airport’s expectations that cargo revenues would more than treble to in excess of £10 million a year.

He was speaking hours before the arrival of the first Hong Kong Air Cargo flight at Prestwick, bringing packages ordered by UK and Irish consumers on the likes of the Temu, SHEIN, and TikTok platforms.

Cargo revenues at the airport, which is known officially as Glasgow Prestwick Airport, totalled £3.228 million in the year to March 31, 2024.

Mr Le Roux revealed his expectation that cargo revenues would be more than treble that level in the airport’s financial year to March 31, 2026, on the back of recent new business wins.

The agreement between Prestwick Airport and China Southern Air Logistics has seen the carrier start scheduled cargo flights at four per week between Guangzhou and Prestwick, with plans for this to........

© Herald Scotland