Inside the Partnership Driving Prestwick Airport’s Cargo Boom

6 million items processed by Royal Mail. What brought them together with Prestwick airport and 3 key airlines to create this bright new business future?

Doug Maclean – Aviation Editor and business writer - 19thFebruary 2026.

As aviation editor for Ayrshire Daily News, I get to attend some interesting events and meet interesting people. As a business writer I get to ask questions about why certain people develop their businesses in ways we can’t quite understand. Recently I had the great pleasure of sitting down with 2 Royal Mail managers who are not only very knowledgeable and enthusiastic, but who are bringing success and prosperity to Prestwick Airport in conjunction with the go-ahead Team Prestwick managers and staff.

I have reported on the spectacular rise of the new cargo flights from China to Scotland – landing at Prestwick Airport. 600 e-commerce cargo flights, over 10,000 pallets, and 23,000 tonnes of imports processed since May 2025 when the first scheduled e-commerce flight landed.

We are now aware of the cargo flowing both ways on these scheduled flights, their destinations in China and even the cargo capacity of each flight.

But one question I could not answer was why did Royal Mail choose Prestwick Airport to host these flights? I had the chance to ask that and other questions when I sat down with Lynsey Aston the Director of Import Products and Solutions and Catrin Jones the Import Solutions and Experience Manager.

The first surprise was that Catrin said the operation was planned because Royal Mail had an existing domestic mail facility called Transit House at Prestwick Airport. To those familiar with the airport Transit House used to the large hangar like building where Curry’s European were based.  Royal Mail had been renting that building for peak period mail capacity and the staff there looked at the building’s good layout and its perfect location 2 minutes from the freight aircraft parking area. Add in the rapid growth of the e commerce business, which Royal Mail were already handling, and as Catrin said, “Our domestic staff gave us the inspirational idea for a dedicated e commerce operation based at Prestwick.”

Lynsey Aston said that the entrepreneurial outlook of both Royal Mail and Prestwick saw the vision of what could be achieved. The Prestwick Partnership agreement flowed from a series of joint meetings. She said that Royal Mail had many big international customer companies who were looking for smoother and quicker access to the UK. That was exactly what Prestwick Airport had set out to market and attract new freight airlines. Both partners were looking at the same market and Prestwick Airport seemed to be a convenient answer that would improve 24 hour access, efficiency and be cost attractive.

Royal Mail already handled a huge amount of e commerce freight going through Heathrow. They knew the volume of arriving parcels and the post codes which were the final UK destinations. They were able to advise their customers how landing the aircraft at Prestwick and plugging into the Royal Mail UK delivery network from Prestwick would work out quicker and be more efficient. Their calculations considered the volumes heading for the north of England, Northern Ireland and whole of Scotland.  

Encouragingly Lynsey, as Director of Import Products and Solutions, said that “Volumes through Prestwick are right on target and Royal Mail can only see the Prestwick operation continue to grow.” She also confirmed that the ability to operate any hour of the day or night was proving to be a real benefit. If a flight was delayed for any reason communication with Prestwick was already excellent and customers valued the fact that they no longer had to worry about “missing a landing or departure slot”. Missed slots and delays translate into delayed delivery to the customer who had bought an item online with a delivery time promise.

Having a very close relationship with its customers Royal Mail are very aware of what priorities are important to all businesses.  Even after a relatively short 8 months of full operation Royal Mail say that their customers are “delighted with the efficiency and flexibility of operating through Prestwick. That increases the customers confidence of operating through Prestwick which in turn means more value to the customers and the likelihood of more flights.”

It is clear from our talk with Royal Mail that they are very aware that their international customers and e commerce platforms can compare operations through airports in the south of the UK, Midlands and Prestwick. So far Prestwick is establishing itself as a unique airport with unmatched flexibility.

One area where we regularly see adverse comment is about online buying killing the High Street shops. Lynsey pointed out 3 particularly relevant facts -

- The public worldwide choose to use e commerce, and it continues to grow.

- One of the biggest reasons for selecting a delivery or pick up company is convenience. Customers increasingly select carriers that offer reliable but flexible delivery and collection options.

- Lynsey then highlighted the rapid expansion of Out OfHome delivery points as a major customer service provided by Royal Mail. People can pick up and drop off parcels with items which are bought online and delivered to a secure locker at a Post Office, shop, garage or even a hotel in remote areas. These lockers and drop off points are increasing footfall to shops, garages and other small businesses. Items being returned or re-gifted are often sent through the same location and generating double the footfall.

Some basic research shows that businesses that install Out OfHome lockers find they are complimentary services that the public use. The businesses that install these lockers typicallypay no charge for installation and they see benefits through guaranteed rental income, increased footfall, and higher in-store spend. 

This is an evolution of the e commerce revolution, and it can be capitalised on by small businesses in any location.  

Returning to the selection of Prestwick as the main hub for e commerce flights I asked, after 8 full months of operation, what was the unique selling point of Prestwick that made Royal Mail so enthusiastic that they should not only continue but expand the number of flights and cargo ? I then asked if other airports pitch to gain that business ?

Catrin Jones, as Import Solutions and Experience Manager said the strength of the Royal Mail infrastructure working from Prestwick, allied to the efficiency of Prestwick, was so strong even after less than a year of full operation it is flourishing and growing stronger. It was also vitally important that the freight is handled only by Prestwick Airport and transferred directly to Royal Mail.

Lynsey Aston elaborated that Prestwick was a “one stop shop”. The packages arrive and within minutes unloading starts. Minutes later it arrives at the processing centre. Again, in minutes the loads start to be broken down and segregated into post codes.  Within a couple of hours, it is loaded into Royal Mail trucks destined for centres across the UK.  As Lynsey said “the Prestwick unique is speed under one organisation. The packages are handled only by Prestwick Airport staff and handed directly to Royal Mail with no third parties involved.” She described the Prestwick operation as having “minimal touch points”. In other words, only Prestwick Airport and Royal Mail handle these packages from arrival in the UK to delivery to the ordering customer.

She compared the Prestwick 2 organisation handling to other airports where multiple companies take responsibility for multiple parts of the process from unloading to customs clearance to transport, storage, load breakdown, postcode sorting and finally loading on to Royal Mail trucks. Prestwick cuts out so many different organisations handling the packages and with that process comes speed and quality of processing.

Commenting on why so few Royal Mail trucks and trailers are visible around the airport, by comparison to other companies, Lynsey explained that their communication with Prestwick Airport was very tight.

As the aircraft were in the air for 11 or 12 hours on flights from China the Royal Mail planning teams would know how many trucks were needed for the load that would be coming off the aeroplane at Prestwick and exactly when the truck would be needed to collect its cargo.

The level of detail known about the cargo was, I thought, astonishing. They would know the exact load planned for each truck and the time when each load could expect to leave Prestwick. That would allow them to direct the right number of trucks to the Prestwick loading bays at optimal times so that as one truck departed with a full load the next was ready to move into the loading bay. The sequence was then carried on to the arrival of each truck at its UK regional distribution hub.

At each hub the planning teams would know precisely what was expected to come off each arriving trailer load. All of this was being planned and refined while the aircraft was only halfway between China and Prestwick.  The trucks would be offloaded automatically and the parcels passed through an electronic sorting process involving scanning and robots. The next human to touch the parcel would be a local postie who delivers that internet ordered parcel to your door. I could not help wondering what my late father would have thought of this process as he was a letter sorter on the night mail train service from Glasgow to London Euston many years ago.  

In summary Royal Mail and Prestwick Airport seem made for each other. They both have entrepreneurial staff and managers who encourage ideas. The speed and efficiency, which Prestwick aimed for, is being achieved daily with Royal Mail and their customers. Although this is a whole new partnership it is working well due to the dedication and imagination shown by staff in both companies.

Prestwick is proving itself to be a slick and efficient airport operation with no time restrictions. With an airport passionate about providing the best service possible to its customers and a customer who is passionate about logistics it is no wonder that both companies are talking about long term commitment and exciting growth plans.  

Many thanks to Prestwick’s Larissa Belch for hosting this interview and to Lynsey Aston and Catrin Jones of Royal Mail for taking time to explain about the Royal Mail operation which they are steering with great passion and skill. It is a pleasure to see such dreams start to fly and I look forward to reporting their many successes in the future.