Scottish Parliament candidates attend a special briefing about Prestwick Airport

The cluster of Aerospace companies based around Prestwick airport is hugely important to the economy of Scotland and the job security of over 4,500 people. Here at Ayrshire Daily News we understand how fortunate we are to have world class engineering and service companies on our doorstep.,

With this in mind, we invited the candidates for the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections to a special briefing about the Prestwick’s aerospace past, present and future. We were delighted when Mr Allan Mackintosh accepted our invite to talk to our politicians.

Allan is the Chair of the Prestwick Aerospace Operational Group. The group is a forum for the companies based around Prestwick Airport. He has also set up the Prestwick Aviation Tours and is an amazing source of knowledge about the history and development of Prestwick from its beginning to today.

Prestwick airport sits on the boundary of the Ayr and the Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Parliamentary constituencies. All the declared candidates for the Scottish elections on 7th May 2026 were invited. Some parties have not yet selected candidates or did not reply to our invite.

Those attending were

Siobhian Brown, SNP. Current Ayr MSP and candidate for Ayr 2026.

Sharon Dowey, Conservative Party. Current South Scotland (Region) MSP and

candidate for Ayr 2026.

Carol Mochan, Labour Party. Current South Scotland (Region) MSP and candidate for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley 2026.

Tracey Clark, Conservative Party. Candidate for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley 2026.

Denise Sommerville, Independent. Current Chair of the Fort, Seafield & Wallacetown Community Council and candidate for Ayr 2026.

The group gathered in the village of Monkton and Allan pointed out the original site of aviation at Prestwick. He also referred to some of the remaining hangars and where the Glasgow road crossed the main runway. He told the story of how Prestwick had developed from a flying training and engineering base to the biggest airport in the UK with truly international ambitions at the end of World War 2.

The politicians asked lots of questions about Prestwick’s story and Allan had all the facts and explanations to hand. He gradually moved through the years and brought the conversation round to Prestwick present and future. He talked why it is vital to have the Prestwick runways available and the huge employment in manufacturing and maintenance.

Alan talked about the importance of the freight services that were growing rapidly. The surprising fact that about 200 permanent jobs had been created in a record short time. The careers opportunities for engineers and employees of the major companies around Prestwick were mentioned. Companies like NATS and GE engine overhaul, Ryanair training academy and links between Ayrshire College and the employers.

Time was spent talking about the financial situation of the airport and the possible sale back into private hands.

The briefing lasted about an hour ana a half and afterwards we had the chance to get the impressions of those politicians who are looking to represent the Prestwick airport area in the Scottish Parliament from May 2026.

Tracey Clark said that looking to the future, we've got a big job coming up. To help the airport companies develop we need to sort out the roads and infrastructure. Companies are looking to expand and take on new trainees. Parliamentary terms are five years, but we need to be looking ahead 50 plus years, because the way things are going with people coming from school, this could be a lifelong career.

Looking at the freight services Tracey noted that we need to keep the international links. We are importing from the United States and Canada and now China but we need to get Scottish produce going out the other way.

Sharon Dowey remarked that she thought the history was fascinating. There's so much that Alan told us that isn’t really known. Currently, I think there's a lot more going on at Prestwick than probably the public are aware of. There's so much more happens at Prestwick than just an airport and there's a huge engineering workforce out here. There's the military presence. They do a lot in freight, and we heard a lot about how much Prestwick has diversified.

The politicians can step in to make sure Prestwick has really positive future, but we all need to work together and that's local government, Scottish government, UK government. We all need to give Prestwick the tools that it needs to develop the workforce for the future. We need to inspire our children so that they know there are really good careers that are available here.

The airport is currently in Scottish government ownership and there's a question of it getting sold back into the private sector. I think we need to make sure that we get the right buyer and it needs to be someone who wants to take the whole aerospace industry forward and make sure that we're still got an industry here in the future that everybody needs, and will be proud of.

Carol Mauchan said that Alan Mackintosh's presentation was absolutely fascinating, and it really has pulled my thoughts together about how important Prestwick airport’s past has been for the area, but that now we need to really concentrate on how we move forward. The key things for me are around the really great skill base that we have here, the opportunities that we have here to pull in more work that will help the whole economy of Ayrshire.

Asked how she could help Prestwick in or out of Government Carol said that there's definitely something to always be able to speak positively about the opportunities that we've got. I come from a party where we have power at Westminster and I certainly will be making sure that the department's down in the UK government understand how important Prestwick Airport could be right across the UK and make sure that we build that into any of our thinking around aviation.

Denise Sommerville said Prestwick has always been important to Scotland. In the past it was known for innovation, as one of the first transatlantic gateways and for its role in military and aerospace development. That history is something Ayrshire can be proud of and it’s still a cornerstone of the Scottish aerospace sector. It provides skilled jobs, supports local supply chains and anchors an industry that’s important to the economy. The cluster of aerospace and space-related businesses shows how vital it is today.

In future Prestwick is central to Scotland’s ambitions in sustainable aviation and space technology. With the planned spaceport, green aviation projects and new investment, it has the chance to lead in high-value industries. As an elected representative of Ayr I would be supporting Prestwick airport to a smooth transition into the private hands.

Siobhian Brown said that It was really fascinating to attend the presentation with Alan McIntosh, who has a wealth of knowledge about Prestwick Airport. I see Prestwick as a national strategic treasure for Scotland. It's an airport that's by the sea, it's got rail links, it's got road links, and I know that the Scottish government saved it back in 2013 and I think what has materialised since then is that we've seen the airport go from strength to strength. It currently has over 4,500 jobs in surrounding areas in the aerospace industry and manufacturing industry with huge potential for the future as well.

Thank you very much to Alan, for this very insightful tour. And I do appreciate that Prestwick is a very, very important part of Ayrshire’s economy.

Ayrshire Daily News would like to thank the candidates who made it a very lively briefing session with their questions and observations. We believe that they all learned more about Prestwick airport and the aerospace cluster of businesses in the area.

A special thanks to Allan Mackintosh for his very knowledgeable presentation and answering so many questions so fully.