Glasgow Prestwick Airport is to be Royal Mail’s newest international e-commerce hub in the United Kingdom.
By Aviation Editor Doug Maclean
I read the statement about Royal Mail and Prestwick airport on possibly 15 aviation sites over the last 2 days. I investigated and found statements like “One-stop e Commerce Fulfilment and Delivery service” and I was none the wiser what that actually meant for Prestwick.
So I turned to a man who should know and talked with Nico Le Roux the Business Development Director at Prestwick airport. Nico has been in senior management positions in aviation and cargo companies for over 20 years and is currently looking to improve and expand cargo volumes coming through Prestwick.
The airport has recently spent £2.2m on a range of specialist heavy lift cargo equipment, cold storage solutions and a state of the art cargo x-ray machine. It has also taken delivery of a heavy-duty pushback tractor capable of handling any aircraft type.
“We have one of the fastest turnaround times for air cargo in the UK, no slot requirements, and no restrictions,” Nico Le Roux said. However the air freight market is highly competitive and the airport is hoping to deliver cargo turnaround times of less than two hours for a 90-tonne load. That means unloading from the giant Boeing 747 and Boeing 777 freighters that come through Prestwick. But it also means getting the freight through customs, unpacked from containers if necessary, packed for customers and loaded on to trucks for quick delivery anywhere in the UK.
Nico explained to me that at the large freight hub airports of Heathrow and East Midlands it is often one company that looks after the aircraft and unloading the freight who then hand over to different companies to open the containers, to see them through customs documentation and to consolidate loads with other companies to get the freight on to trucks and out for delivery. It gets even more complicated when almost 50% of all air freight is now shipped in the belly hold of passenger aircraft and those aircraft are parked at different terminals. At Prestwick it is all handled by the airport’s own staff who can plan and oversee every step in the process and the freight arrives on dedicated freighter aircraft. Nico said in his press release “We are a full in-house operation, from ground handling and warehouse handling, to fire services, and air traffic control, which allows us to offer greater flexibility. Carriers only need to make one call to our operations line, and we take care of everything. This streamlined process is a significant advantage.” In other words when freight at Heathrow is still making its way from a passenger terminal to the arrival freight shed the equivalent at Prestwick will already be hitting the road for delivery to customers.
It seems that this advantage has already been noticed because the new marketing agreement with Royal Mail was announced by Prestwick at the Air Cargo China 2024 exhibition. Royal Mail Director of Global Imports Vivian Davies said: “We are excited to be working with Glasgow Prestwick Airport to offer a cost-effective and efficient international e-commerce solution. Prestwick has no flight restrictions, congestion, or curfews on both inbound and outbound flights, offering round-the-clock availability, which is key for the fast turnaround needed in the e-commerce sector. Royal Mail is the UK’s leading last mile delivery provider offering a fully tracked service ensuring timely delivery within two to three days of parcels entering the UK.”
She continued “By partnering with Prestwick, we are confident we can offer our existing and new international e-commerce customers an unbeatable service on both delivery time and cost.”
Prestwick is hosting a visit this week by a prominent Asian logistics provider, who are coming to see Prestwick’s 860-acre site. They will meet with Mr Le Roux and see the facilities and freight handling in action. It has long been an ambition to bring Far East based freighters directly to Prestwick. Hopefully this is a step towards that becoming reality.
By getting the backing of Royal Mail and its world wide customer base Prestwick is offering quality advantages to a market where customers expect next day delivery in the UK and short time delivery worldwide. Royal Mail will be pointing customers towards Prestwick and be able to show them the competitive advantages that operating through Prestwick can bring.
Prestwick’s Operations Director Jules Matteoni probably best summed up the agreement’s impact by saying “This joint solution with Royal Mail allows us to provide full visibility with traceability from touchdown to customer delivery and the potential to save on lead times through simplified processes.”
In the meantime one of Prestwick’s main freight operators Air France are known to be happy with Prestwick’s investment in heavy lift equipment and ground vehicles. They will be taking delivery of their brand new Airbus 350 freighters in early 2026 and the new equipment at Prestwick is designed to be used by both their existing and new aircraft. Air France will be replacing their 2 dedicated Boeing 777 freighters with 4 of the new and super efficient Airbus 350s. The speedy processing of Air France freight at Prestwick will hopefully see an increase in their operations through Prestwick.
It seems that the Mr Le Roux and the Prestwick Airport Board have their eye on the ball and aim to improve Prestwick as a primary freight handling airport in a highly competitive market.