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Glasgow Airport
Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport (IATA: GLA, ICAO: EGPF), and formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, 7 miles (11 km) west of Glasgow city centre. In 2024 it handled 8.06 million passengers, a 9.6 per cent annual increase, making it the second-busiest in Scotland, after Edinburgh Airport, and the ninth-busiest in the United Kingdom.
It is owned and operated by AGS Airports, which also owns and operates Aberdeen and Southampton airports. It was previously owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings (formerly known as BAA). Loganair are headquartered at the airport and have a maintenance hangar here. easyJet, Jet2.com and TUI Airways also use Glasgow as a hub.
It was opened in 1966 and originally flights only operated to other places in the UK and Europe. It began to offer flights to elsewhere — flights that previously used Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which was subsequently relegated as the city's secondary airport catering for Ryanair and freight operators.
The history of the present Glasgow Airport goes back to 1932, when the site at Abbotsinch, between the Black Cart Water and the White Cart Water, near Paisley in Renfrewshire, was opened. In 1933 No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron AAF of the Auxiliary Air Force (present day Royal Auxiliary Air Force) moved its Westland Wapiti IIA aircraft from nearby Renfrew. The RAF Station headquarters, however, was not formed until 1 July 1936 when 6 Auxiliary Group, Bomber Command, arrived. From May 1939, until moving away in October 1939, the Squadron flew the Supermarine Spitfire.
In 1940 a torpedo training unit was formed, which trained both Royal Air Force and Royal Navy crews under RAF Coastal Command. The Admiralty was granted a lodger facility for a RN Air Section at Royal Air Force Abbotsinch from 19 June 1940. The airbase was transferred from No. 19 Group RAF to the Admiralty on 11 August 1943, known as Royal Naval Air Station Abbotsinch, (or RNAS Abbotsinch). Its primary function was an Aircraft Maintenance Yard and Reserve Aircraft Storage and Salvage. On 20 September it was commissioned HMS Sanderling. During the 1950s the airfield housed a large aircraft storage unit and squadrons of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
The Royal Navy left in October 1963. The name Sanderling was, however, retained as a link between the two: HMS Sanderling's ship's bell was presented to the new airport and a bar in the airport was named The Sanderling Bar.
The following squadrons were based at Glasgow Airport at some point:
In the 1960s Glasgow Corporation decided that a new airport for the city was required. The original site of Glasgow's main airport, Renfrew Airport, was 3 km (1.9 mi) east of the current airport, in what is now the Dean Park area of Renfrew. The original Art Deco terminal building of the original airport has not survived. The site is now occupied by a Tesco supermarket and the M8 motorway; this straight and level section of motorway occupies the site of the runway.
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Glasgow Airport
Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport (IATA: GLA, ICAO: EGPF), and formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, 7 miles (11 km) west of Glasgow city centre. In 2024 it handled 8.06 million passengers, a 9.6 per cent annual increase, making it the second-busiest in Scotland, after Edinburgh Airport, and the ninth-busiest in the United Kingdom.
It is owned and operated by AGS Airports, which also owns and operates Aberdeen and Southampton airports. It was previously owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings (formerly known as BAA). Loganair are headquartered at the airport and have a maintenance hangar here. easyJet, Jet2.com and TUI Airways also use Glasgow as a hub.
It was opened in 1966 and originally flights only operated to other places in the UK and Europe. It began to offer flights to elsewhere — flights that previously used Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which was subsequently relegated as the city's secondary airport catering for Ryanair and freight operators.
The history of the present Glasgow Airport goes back to 1932, when the site at Abbotsinch, between the Black Cart Water and the White Cart Water, near Paisley in Renfrewshire, was opened. In 1933 No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron AAF of the Auxiliary Air Force (present day Royal Auxiliary Air Force) moved its Westland Wapiti IIA aircraft from nearby Renfrew. The RAF Station headquarters, however, was not formed until 1 July 1936 when 6 Auxiliary Group, Bomber Command, arrived. From May 1939, until moving away in October 1939, the Squadron flew the Supermarine Spitfire.
In 1940 a torpedo training unit was formed, which trained both Royal Air Force and Royal Navy crews under RAF Coastal Command. The Admiralty was granted a lodger facility for a RN Air Section at Royal Air Force Abbotsinch from 19 June 1940. The airbase was transferred from No. 19 Group RAF to the Admiralty on 11 August 1943, known as Royal Naval Air Station Abbotsinch, (or RNAS Abbotsinch). Its primary function was an Aircraft Maintenance Yard and Reserve Aircraft Storage and Salvage. On 20 September it was commissioned HMS Sanderling. During the 1950s the airfield housed a large aircraft storage unit and squadrons of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
The Royal Navy left in October 1963. The name Sanderling was, however, retained as a link between the two: HMS Sanderling's ship's bell was presented to the new airport and a bar in the airport was named The Sanderling Bar.
The following squadrons were based at Glasgow Airport at some point:
In the 1960s Glasgow Corporation decided that a new airport for the city was required. The original site of Glasgow's main airport, Renfrew Airport, was 3 km (1.9 mi) east of the current airport, in what is now the Dean Park area of Renfrew. The original Art Deco terminal building of the original airport has not survived. The site is now occupied by a Tesco supermarket and the M8 motorway; this straight and level section of motorway occupies the site of the runway.