Prospects for lowland airports and air services

It is widely accepted that Scotland suffers from an over-provision of airport services. This is particularly acute in the case of the three Lowland airports where, in 1984-85, 4.55 million passengers utilised terminal facilities with an estimated capacity of 7.25 mppa. This outturn of 63% capacity utilisation conceals marked variations. In the last fiscal year Prestwick's terminal building operated at 15.5% capacity whilst Glasgow and Edinburgh operated at 79.5% and 76.5% respectively. The main argument of this paper is that liberalisation of air-services tends to favour airports where a strong and viable route network exists or is capable of being developed.