BAA embarked on a massive redevelopment plan for Glasgow International Airport in 1989. When BAA was privatised in the late 1980s, as BAA plc, it consolidated its airport portfolio and sold Prestwick Airport. In 1975, the BAA took ownership of Glasgow Airport. The aftermath of the 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack The political rows over Glasgow and Prestwick airports continued, with Prestwick enjoying a monopoly over transatlantic traffic (under the 1946 US-UK bilateral air transport agreement known as the Bermuda Agreement), while Glasgow Airport was only allowed to handle UK and intra-European traffic. The airport was officially opened on 27 June 1966 by Queen Elizabeth II. The first commercial flight to arrive was a British European Airways flight from Edinburgh, landing at 8 am on. Nevertheless, the plan went forward and the new airport, designed by Basil Spence and built at a cost of £4.2 million, was completed in 1966, with British European Airways beginning services using De Havilland Comet aircraft. The UK Government had already committed millions into rebuilding Prestwick Airport fit for the " jet age". Ībbotsinch took over from Renfrew Airport on. 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. The original Art Deco terminal building of the original airport has not survived. The original site of Glasgow's main airport, Renfrew Airport, was 3 km (1.9 mi) east of Abbotsinch, in what is now the Dean Park area of Renfrew. In the 1960s, Glasgow Corporation decided that a new airport for the city was required.
During the 1950s, the airfield housed a large aircraft storage unit and squadrons of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. All navy ships and bases are given ship names and Abbotsinch's was known as HMS Sanderling since June 1940. On 11 August 1943 Abbotsinch was handed over solely to the Royal Navy and it became a naval base.
In 1940, a torpedo training unit was formed, which trained both RAF and Royal Navy crews. From May 1939, until moving away in October 1939, the Squadron flew the Supermarine Spitfire. The RAF Station HQ, however, was not formed until 1 July 1936 when 6 Auxiliary Group, Bomber Command, arrived. In 1933 the Royal Air Force 602 Squadron (City of Glasgow) Auxiliary Air Force moved its Wapiti IIA aircraft from nearby Renfrew. 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. Glasgow Airport began to offer flights to other places around the world, flights which previously used Glasgow Prestwick Airport, which was subsequently relegated as the city's secondary airport catering as a base for: Ryanair, freight and charter operators. Glasgow Airport was opened in 1966 and originally flights only operated to other places in the United Kingdom and Europe. Other major airlines using Glasgow as a base include Jet2 and TUI Airways (formerly known as Thomson Airways). The airport's largest tenants are British Airways, easyJet and Loganair. It was previously owned and operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings (formerly known as BAA). The airport is owned and operated by AGS Airports which also owns and operates Aberdeen and Southampton airports. In 2019, the airport handled 8.84 million passengers, an 8.4% annual decrease, making it the second-busiest in Scotland, after Edinburgh Airport, and the ninth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom. It is located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, 8.6 nautical miles (15.9 km 9.9 mi) west of Glasgow city centre. Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport ( IATA: GLA, ICAO: EGPF), formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport in Scotland.
Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority