Military flights boost revenue for Prestwick Airport

The biggest of these, German Air Defender 2023, took place in summer this year.

As a refuelling stop, the higher price of oil also boosted turnover at Prestwick. Operating profit was up by 10% to £2.1m.

The Scottish government bought Prestwick Airport from its previous New Zealand owners 10 years ago to avoid its closure, and funded its loss-making operations with more than £50m of loans.

Airport managers attracted more cargo flights, which were boosted during the pandemic when passenger flights were grounded, removing cargo capacity.

That has helped the Ayrshire airport turn a profit for the past four years.

Passenger traffic more than trebled to 459,000 last year, but it remains a relatively small part of operations at the airport.