glasgow Airport Information
About Glasgow Airport Facilities
Glasgow International Airport has a large, well equipped main terminal that offers a wide range of services on three floors. For the business traveller, the Executive Lounges are on hand in the international and domestic departures areas, as well as a business work station located near Gate 1 in the main concourse. For holidaymakers travelling with children, there are two play areas and also a Game Grid and a TV lounge available. If travelling to the airport by train, Paisley's Gilmour Street railway station only two miles away from the terminal. There are direct rail services from Paisley Gilmour Street to Glasgow Central, Ayr and Clyde Coast destinations. If travelling by coach, there are frequent services to Glasgow city centre operated by Citylink and Fairline as a combined service 905. All services have drop off points at various locations in the city including close to Glasgow Central and Queen Street railway stations and at Buchanan bus station.
The History of Glasgow Airport
Glasgow airport was initially established in 1932 at Abbotsinch as an overspill for the RAF base at Renfrew, which was located in the Dean Park area of Renfrew. In 1943 however, the airfield became known as HMS Sanderling as the Royal Navy commandeered it and the Royal Auxiliary Air Force 602 was based there.
In 1960 it was announced that Abbotsinch would replace Renfrew as the airport serving Glasgow and six years later, Glasgow Airport was officially opened by her majesty the Queen on 27th June 1966. The airport thrived almost instantaneously with over 1 million passengers recorded by December of that year.
During the 1970s Glasgow became a popular starting point for package holidays with airlines such as Laker, Tarom, Britannia, British Midland, Iberia and Channel all flying to popular destinations in Europe. In 1973 Glasgow found it necessary to extend the runway in order to cater for larger jets.
In 1975 BAA bought the airport from Glasgow Corporation and almost immediately began developing the site, expanding the terminal building with an extension costing £2 million and by 1986 the airport was able to handle 3.5 million travellers.
As demand continued to increase, the expansion of the airport continued into the latter half of the 1980s with a £55 million development, increasing the terminal size by over two thirds in order to provide for a 6 million passengers a year.
A significant change took place in 1990 when the Government announced that transatlantic carriers could now fly from the airport of their choice, when previously Prestwick enjoyed a monopoly on transatlantic flights. A number of airlines switched their operation from Prestwick to Glasgow Airport, including Air Canada. By 1994 building work was completed and international traffic was able to move to the newly developed pier with 7 air bridges and able to handle any aircraft.
The numbers of international and domestic passengers continued to increase steadily, assisted by the improved facilities which included a larger number of gates, remote parking areas and expansion from low cost operators and in 2003 passenger numbers had broken through the 8 million mark. In addition, in 2004 Glasgow Airport was the first in Scotland to handle more than a million travellers in a single month.
Also in 2004, the second terminal, T2 (formerly the St Andrews Building) was officially opened, providing a further nine check-in desks and a state of the art baggage screening system.
Further development is planned and the target is to ensure that the airport has sufficient facilities to handle as many as 24 million passengers by 2030. Of course, development of this major international airport is ongoing and there have been numerous expansions and improvements to the site which have made it the second largest airport in the UK.
