By Fiona McKay
LOSS-making Prestwick Airport is touting for business at military fairs across the US in a bid to to win contracts to service cargo flights, troop transports and air-to-air refuelling operations, it has been claimed.
Its executives have also been developing close relations with President Donald Trump’s nearby resort at Turnberry to promote its bid to become a spaceport backed by the US government.
The Scottish Government and then-first minister Alex Salmond stepped in to save the South Ayrshire airport from closure in November 2013, buying it for £1.
Initial estimates proposed £21.3 million of loans would be needed to keep the airport – officially known as Glasgow Prestwick Airport – going under but further funds bring the total to nearly £48m.
An investigation by the Guardian newspaper has now alleged Prestwick won a number of military contracts, done with the knowledge of Scottish Government ministers, including Economy Secretary Keith Brown, both while Mr Trump was the presidential candidate and since he became president.
The USAF confirmed Prestwick was used to support frontline US military operations.
Major Richard Komurek, a USAF spokesman for Europe and Africa, said: “Glasgow Prestwick airport is one of a variety of airfields within Europe that can be used to support a full range of USAF operations.”
Documents show that USAF Stratotanker air-to-air refuelling aircraft operated several sorties from Prestwick in May 2017.
That month, the USAF also approved “active duty missions” from Prestwick for Hercules C130 cargo planes for its air mobility command.
Mr Brown was told a visit by US diplomats to Prestwick ahead of the opening of the Turnberry resort in June 2016 led to new contacts with the USAF’s European chief of defence and the US air attache to the UK.
In October 2016, Prestwick signed a three-year basing and fuel supply deal with the US Defence Logistics Agency, helping it almost double its income from fuel sales to £3m last year.
Brown was told those contacts also led to the USAF earmarking Prestwick to take a greater share of its flights after it leaves Mildenhall airbase in Suffolk, its largest base in the UK, in 2024.
Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s economy spokeswoman, said that the SNP’s attitude to Trump showed “breathtaking hypocrisy.”
The Scottish Government said approving military flights was a matter for aviation authorities controlled by the UK Government, and that Prestwick had been used by Nato air forces for decades.
Questions were also raised about Nicola Sturgeon’s knowledge of Transport Scotland officials lobbying ministers to meet Trump Organisation staff.
A Scottish Government spokesman has admitted officials had been a conduit for “tentative” proposals from Prestwick but said none of the suggested meetings took place.
Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Greens’ co-leader, called for the documents to be published in full.
Captain Jhanelle Haag, a USAF spokeswoman, said Prestwick was chosen solely for military reasons.
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