Glasgow Airport North America route importance flagged

[McG]

Aer Lingus UK with A321XLR is who I would be targeting both for a NYC and an Orlando service.

[GKirk]

Aer Lingus UK with A321XLR is who I would be targeting both for a NYC and an Orlando service.

Aer Lingus UK do not have A321s. And I don't see them expanding beyond GLA IMO. Orlando needs to be getting VS back from along the M8

[egpffqtv]

Aer Lingus UK with A321XLR is who I would be targeting both for a NYC and an Orlando service.

Aer Lingus UK do not have A321s. And I don't see them expanding beyond GLA IMO. Orlando needs to be getting VS back from along the M8

Beyond MAN

[GKirk]

Aer Lingus UK with A321XLR is who I would be targeting both for a NYC and an Orlando service.

Aer Lingus UK do not have A321s. And I don't see them expanding beyond GLA IMO. Orlando needs to be getting VS back from along the M8

Beyond MAN

Doh!

[Iain]

Aer Lingus UK do not have A321s. And I don't see them expanding beyond GLA IMO. Orlando needs to be getting VS back from along the M8

Beyond MAN

Doh!

What's it got to do with Qatar?

[FlyGLA]

If the business case was so strong, airlines would be serving this market from Glasgow. Incentives help but you can’t rely on handouts to secure new business.

You're speaking as if GLA has never had transatlantic flights. Just 5–6 years ago, GLA had more transatlantic connections than EDI. In fact, at one point, GLA was the only airport in Europe to host all of North America's transatlantic airlines—a feat EDI still hasn’t achieved.

The demand is clearly there. EDI wouldn’t have nearly as many transatlantic flights as it does now without passengers from Glasgow helping to sustain those services. All it would take is one airline to give Glasgow-based passengers the option to fly from their preferred airport.

The argument that a route’s absence proves there’s no market for it is frankly absurd. If that were true, airlines would never introduce new routes. By that logic, a year ago, one could claim there was no money to be made flying EDI to DXB, because if demand existed, the route would already exist. Yet here we are, with EK adding Scotland’s secondary city to their network.

And as for state handouts, let’s not forget that EDI’s very first transatlantic service came about thanks to government funding. Perhaps the funds previously used to bribe Continental Airlines to operate the EDI-EWR route, despite their successful GLA-EWR service, should now be allocated to reinstating the GLA-EWR connection. That seems fair to me.

[Clive]

If the business case was so strong, airlines would be serving this market from Glasgow. Incentives help but you can’t rely on handouts to secure new business.

You're speaking as if GLA has never had transatlantic flights. Just 5–6 years ago, GLA had more transatlantic connections than EDI. In fact, at one point, GLA was the only airport in Europe to host all of North America's transatlantic airlines—a feat EDI still hasn’t achieved.

The demand is clearly there. EDI wouldn’t have nearly as many transatlantic flights as it does now without passengers from Glasgow helping to sustain those services. All it would take is one airline to give Glasgow-based passengers the option to fly from their preferred airport.

The argument that a route’s absence proves there’s no market for it is frankly absurd. If that were true, airlines would never introduce new routes. By that logic, a year ago, one could claim there was no money to be made flying EDI to DXB, because if demand existed, the route would already exist. Yet here we are, with EK adding Scotland’s secondary city to their network.

And as for state handouts, let’s not forget that EDI’s very first transatlantic service came about thanks to government funding. Perhaps the funds previously used to bribe Continental Airlines to operate the EDI-EWR route, despite their successful GLA-EWR service, should now be allocated to reinstating the GLA-EWR connection. That seems fair to me.

Many good points there.