World class fashion retailer lands in Scotland through Prestwick airport

Doug Maclean – Aviation Editor.

In the last 20 years fashion retailing has been revolutionised. Clever development of a system of low priced modern fashion goods, easy online instant buying and rapid delivery through ultra slick supply chain management has seen companies based in China, Vietnam and Singapore grow to overtake their western counterparts.

We now see that clever investment at Prestwick airport is meeting the world of fashion and on line selling. Ayrshire Daily News revealed, in June last year, details of the Prestwick Board’s investment in new freight handling equipment and a tie up with Royal Mail aimed at securing a slice of the rapidly growing e commerce business. The Airport is also working with other final mile providers, offering choice to e-commerce sellers.

The airport handled one of its first e commerce flight on 11th February when a Hong Kong Air Cargo Airbus 330 freighter arrived from Hong Kong. The cargo from that flight cleared customs, was sorted by Prestwick staff and within hours was on its way to UK regional distribution centres.

The first flight was judged a success by all the parties involved and scheduled flights by Hong Kong Air Cargo are expected to start later this year.

Pleased by the way their cargo was swiftly processed through Prestwick during a trial, a huge e commerce company has decided to send a giant Boeing 747 to Prestwick tomorrow, Thursday 1st May. On board will be many tons of freight destined for all areas of the UK. Executives from the company and other involved partner companies will be at Prestwick to meet the flight and see for themselves the way that their valuable cargo is processed and sent onwards for delivery.

The flight is expected to touch down at Prestwick from Hong Kong at around 7 am. Using its new freight handling equipment, within 90 minutes the cargo will be offloaded and taken through customs clearance. It will then be transferred to the dedicated handling building where the cargo pallets will be opened and the freight sorted into specific regions across the UK.

Prestwick’s operation will all be “in house” from landing to the trucks getting on the road. That ensures the process is able to be managed by Prestwick’s own staff and the time taken for the whole operation is reckoned to be significantly less than it would at other UK airports. Royal Mail and Evri trucks will then take their parcels onwards for local delivery.

Talking to Ayrshire Daily News Mr Nico Le Roux, Prestwick’s Director of Business Development called the February arrival of direct flights from Hong Kong to Prestwick a “game changer”. It was one of the first e commerce flights to go through Prestwick’s new specialist freight handling service using equipment that the airport had recently purchased. To you and me e commerce means being able to order one of millions of products on our phone or computer and have your goods loaded on to a flight heading for the UK within a very short time. The new set up at Prestwick means within hours of arriving the freight packages will be sorted and sent on their way to its local delivery warehouses.

In our exclusive interview after that Hong Kong Air Cargo flight landed Mr Le Roux said “the ambition is to do a flight a day - a wide bodied flight a day.” The potential for dedicated flights was assessed as many as 2 flights a day for Northern UK (north of Manchester) just from one company and that discussions with other companies and carriers were very positive.

The world of import and export has been turned upside down in the last few weeks with trade from China to USA dramatically reducing. However, many analysts say that it could open long term opportunities for trade between China and Europe. The choice of Prestwick by one of the world’s leading fast fashion companies this week cannot be underestimated.

Nico Le Roux’s “game changer” flight in February was round one of the Far East to UK trade game. Tomorrow’s flight is round 2. Here at Ayrshire Daily News we are eagerly awaiting the next rounds and very positive news for jobs and business through one of Scotland’s major freight assets – Prestwick International Airport.

See Mr Le Roux’s February interview here –

https://bit.ly/44HS2U8