Prestwick Airport debt surges by £8m

THE debt owed by Prestwick Airport to the Scottish government has risen in the past year from £30million to £38.4m, according to reports.

Accounts lodged with Companies House show the holding company made a loss of £7.6m in the year to March, down from £8.6m the previous year.

However, revenue increased from £13.6m to £18.2m through a doubling of funds from refuelling aircraft at the publicly-owned facility.

The Ayrshire airport was saved from closure by a Scottish government takeover.

Efforts have been made to win new routes operating out of Prestwick but it has resulted in only one additional route linking with Poland.

Prestwick employs 315 staff, 280 of them operational, with a payroll bill of £9.4m.

Last year, it was claimed the airport was touting for business at military fairs across the US in a bid to to win contracts to service cargo flights, troop transports and air-to-air refuelling operations.

Its executives have also been developing close relations with President Donald Trump’s nearby resort at Turnberry to promote its bid to become a spaceport backed by the US government.

The Scottish Government and then-first minister Alex Salmond stepped in to save the South Ayrshire airport from closure in November 2013, buying it for £1.