Ryanair and Glasgow Prestwick celebrate 30 years of partnership with a £40 million investment which will make Prestwick the number 1 Ryanair heavy maintenance base
- Ayrshire Daily News
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Aviation Editor Doug Maclean
This major development will expand Ryanair’s existing Prestwick operation from 6 to 10 bays, taking more aircraft every week and creating 450 new engineer and mechanic jobs.
The 11,938 square metre state of the art hangar will have space for 4 aircraft and a workshop where Ryanair can manufacture certain products for fitting in the aircraft going through the maintenance inspection and refit. This will makePrestwick the premier aircraft maintenance and training hub within Ryanair’s network.
This latest project builds on Ryanair’s recent £5 millioninvestment in its Prestwick Training Academy which opened in October 2024. Between Ryanair’s Academy and Ayrshire College’s new SAI Aerospace teaching facility at Prestwick Airport the apprentices and licensed aircraft engineers of the future will have decades of well paid work on their doorstep.
Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes was singled out by the Ryanair Chief Executive Eddie Wilson for praise in getting the negations successfully concluded and agreements made to deliver the new hangar.
Ms Forbes told Ayrshire Daily News that the process to secure the new Ryanair investment was highly competitive. She said “we engaged over a number of months to understand what Ryanair needed and what the Scottish Government could do to provide support. We worked with partners to structure a package of support through the Ayrshire Growth Deal to ensure that this was a very commercial and attractive offer for Ryanair.”
Of the £40 million to be invested, £20 million will come direct from Ryanair. The rest will come through various Scottish Government, Government Agency funding and the Ayrshire Growth Deal. This is a source of Scottish, UK and South Ayrshire Council public funding aimed at the many companies in what is known as the Prestwick Aerospace Cluster.
UK Government Minister for Scotland Kirsty McNeill said:
"Helping secure Prestwick Airport’s long-term future is a priority for the UK Government and Ryanair’s decision to build its largest heavy maintenance hangar here - creating and supporting 1,200 jobs - is a massive win for Ayrshire and a powerful vote of confidence in our hugely talented local workforce.
Work will start on the new hangar complex soon and the first Ryanair Boeing 737s are expected to arrive for heavy maintenance in 2028. Ryanair have heavy maintenance bases in Kaunas, Lithuania, Wroclaw, Poland, Seville, Spain, Frankfurt Hahn, Germany and Shannon, Ireland. With the new facility Prestwick and Training Centre on site Prestwick will be the biggest of them all and able to undertake every aspect of training, maintenance and refurbishment of the huge Ryanair fleet.
Ryanair CEO, Eddie Wilson, said: “Prestwick will be our largest heavy maintenance facility, and a key part of how we will maintain and support our fleet as we continue to grow to 800 aircraft and 300 million passengers by 2034.”
Ayr MSP Siobhian Brown said about today’s announcement - “The presence of the Ryanair training and maintenance operations at Prestwick strengthens Scotland’s aviation sector by attracting investment, supporting supply chains, and encouraging the development of specialist skills. It also enhances the airport’s strategic importance to wider economic growth, regional stability, and Scotland’s reputation as a hub for aerospace engineering expertise.”
Today is further great news for Prestwick, Ayrshire and the Scottish Aerospace industry. The Airport has diversified its business focus and it is spread over many different types of aviation companies. Some world class names are on the doorssurrounding the 90 year old airport. Over the decades Prestwick has re-invented itself again and again. Around the airport there is huge optimism that once again the future is bright.
