Glasgow Prestwick plans retail developments

Lorna Strickland

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The Scottish airport is to tender retail space, including an enlarged duty-free shop and new beauty and gifts concepts, within the next few months

Glasgow Prestwick International airport is to receive a £3m ($5.37m) makeover towards the end of the year. The duty-free shop is due to be increased from 300sq m (3,228sq ft) to 500sq m (5,380sq ft) and new outlets will be built for health and beauty as well as gifts, although all applications will be considered when the space opens for tender in the next few months. Plans also include total refurbishment of shop fittings and new signs.

The development, which focuses almost entirely on retail expansion, was due to start at the beginning of September but no building work has begun yet. Manager of duty-free retail Lorraine Belsey told DFNI that the plans have been decided but no dates have been confirmed, although she expected it to start before the end of the year.

The airport has been achieving steady traffic growth due to increased low-cost routes, with Ryanair recently launching four new European routes from the airport.  In August passenger figures rose 11% against the same time last year.  Almost 210,000 passengers passed through the airport in August, compared with almost 189,000 at the same time last year.