Biggest upgrade for 11 years to “significantly enhance passenger experience”

Scotland’s second busiest air terminal is to undergo a “comprehensive transformation” as part of a £350 million improvements package for the three airports owned by the AGS group.

The upgrade to Glasgow’s main terminal will create “best in class operational and retail facilities” to “significantly enhance the passenger experience”, according to the company that also runs Aberdeen and Southampton.

A conceptual design of one of the main halls at Glasgow Airport. Image: AGS Airports | AGS Airports

The airport’s new owners hope work to enable arriving aircraft to be turned around faster will help attract airlines back which no longer fly from Glasgow.

Work on expanding the airside part of the terminal beyond security to add more shops and places to eat and drink, which was originally planned for around 2030, is due to start this year and expected to be completed in 2027.

The west end of the check-in hall will also be expanded, along with the T2 check in area at the east end of the building. The three piers of aircraft boarding gates will be overhauled for the first time in 30 years.

Concept design of possible terminal expansion includes to the check in areas (T2 marked in orange on left and main area in green on right), new connection between T2 and main building (yellow) and airside retail (blue and orange on right) | AGS Airports

The project is seen as a major shot in the arm for what was Scotland’s pre-eminent airport until being eclipsed by Edinburgh in 2007, which now carries about twice as many passengers.

AGS Airports’ new chief has also pledged to “strengthen connectivity” in a signal of his determination to win back routes after airlines such as Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic switched their focus to Edinburgh.

Glasgow boasts Scotland’s only Airbus A380 “superjumbo” service - Emirates to Dubai - but has regular flights on only one route to the United States - Orlando - compared to seven from Edinburgh.

A conceptual design of the upgraded retail offering at Glasgow Airport. Image: AGS Airports | AGS Airports

Glasgow will also want to build on its advantage of having a more spacious terminal than its east coast rival, which has been criticised by some passengers for failing to keep up with its rapid growth to 16 million passengers a year.

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Glasgow handled 8.2m passengers in 2024 and expects 8.5m this year - but that’s still below its pre-pandemic total of 8.8m in 2019 and a record 9.9m in 2017.

The biggest investment in the airports since AGS was formed 11 years ago, which was announced on Wednesday, follows the completion of its sale to airports group AviAlliance in January for £1.5 billion.

A conceptual design of the Glasgow Airport upgrade. Image: AGS Airports | AGS Airports

Former Budapest Airport boss Kam Jandu, who took over as AGS chief executive in January, said: “We need to improve the [Glasgow Airport] terminal, especially after security - the retail and dining experience, and also the gate areas.

“We are in consultation with our existing airlines and potential new ones to make sure we are meeting turn-around space requirements that fit their aspirations because the low-cost airlines want to turn their aircraft relatively quickly, and that talks to the modernised gate designs we’re working on.

“We’re having good conversations with airlines who used to fly here, who are willing to come back. But they are making clear that one of the ingredients for that is the right commercial offer, underpinned by the right operational model.

“It’s disappointing for us to see a fair number of passengers who live in the Glasgow catchment going to Edinburgh, and they do that not because it’s a better airport, but because they have the flights from there.

“We were previously the biggest airport in the country and we will certainly remain the biggest city.

“My goal is not to steal too much back from Edinburgh, because both cities offer something complementary. But it’s to get airlines to put some more capacity back here, because once they do that, passengers will come back because everybody like to fly from their local airport.

“A lot of the European short-haul routes are the ones we need to get back in - we don’t have a Milan service, or to Copenhagen or Madrid [which are both among Edinburgh’s ten busiest international routes].

“Then we have underserved routes compared to what we had before, like Paris [its eighth busiest international route].

“We’re also working on long-haul connectivity, such as the east coast of the US. New York operated here previously and we know there is a lot of demand.

“We are in good conversations with all the airlines in the US and also with the European airlines who take passengers from here to the US in terms of looking at having direct flights from Glasgow to the US.”

Mr Jandu said Edinburgh Airport was “probably going to struggle with capacity at some point, so there is a limit to what airlines can offer in terms of growth there”.

“Many airports around the world co-exist in close proximity and can be equally successful, so we don’t see that as a barrier to our dreams of growing by 4-5 per cent in terms of passenger numbers every year,” he said.

But Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar said in February he was confident of keeping up with demand, with spending on improvements increasing this year by nearly half from £52m to £80m.

However, terminal expansion is not expectef to be completed until 2028.

He said: “We are trying to ensure that we are delivering in advance of demand, in a phased way.

“We are confident we will build to keep up with that demand, but we are going to be extremely busy over the coming years to do all of that and make a very significant enhancement to the overall capability of the airport.”

AGS Airports’ five-year spending programme also includes Glasgow and Aberdeen’s airfield infrastructure and “energy efficiency initiatives”, as well as redevelopment at Southampton Airport, which has been able to take larger aircraft since its runway was extended two years ago.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, speaking at the announcement at Glasgow Airport, described the investment as a “huge mark of confidence in the airports”. She said it reflected the importance placed by the Scottish Government on “international connectivity”.

“The First Minister [John Swinney] has tasked me with attracting and securing investment in our key infrastructure like airports and using that to unlock the potential of the Scottish economy,” she said.

“We are a small nation and it is important our airports are complementary to one another. People will often choose which airport to fly from based on their experience, but also the connectivity, and this is an opportunity for Glasgow to secure new routes, and we are willing to support their endeavours.”

AGS also announced its new chair as Charles Hammond, a former chief executive of Forth Ports, whose majority stakeholder is AviAlliance’s Canadian pension firm owner, PSP Investments.

Major Scottish airport announces 'comprehensive transformation' of terminal

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