News that the owner of Glasgow and Aberdeen airports is being acquired by one of Canada’s largest pension investors came somewhat out of the blue this week, and naturally raises the question of what this will mean.

Acquirer AviAlliance, the wholly owned airports platform of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments), was certainly making all the right noises as it announced its purchase of AGS Airports, which also owns Southampton Airport, from Ferrovial of Spain and Macquarie of Australia.

Only time will tell but, if what AviAlliance is promising as its focus is borne out by its stewardship of the airports, the future looks bright enough.

AGS Airports is being acquired for an enterprise value of £1.53 billion - in a transaction which is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to complete in the first quarter of 2025 - so that represents a major investment by the buyer.

The sale of AGS comes hard on the heels of a deal announced in April which saw a majority stake in Edinburgh Airport change hands.

Global Infrastructure Partners, which achieved impressive growth at Edinburgh Airport after taking over the asset in 2012, agreed to sell a 50.01% stake in the Scottish capital's airport to seasoned French operator VINCI Airports for around £1.27bn.

The enthusiasm of AviAlliance on Wednesday, as it set out its vision for Glasgow, Aberdeen and Southampton airports, was strikingly similar to that expressed by VINCI when it announced its purchase of the majority stake in Edinburgh.

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Among the priorities highlighted by AviAlliance were expansion of the airports’ route networks and further improving the “passenger experience”.

AviAlliance hearteningly underlined the importance of the airports to their “local economies”.

And it declared it would leverage its “extensive global airport expertise to responsibly develop AGS Airports, enhancing air connectivity, improve the passenger experience, and support local communities”.

PSP Investments is, of course, no stranger to Scotland.

Its infrastructure investments include a majority ownership position in Forth Ports.

And its AviAlliance platform was enthusiastic not only about the individual airports which it is buying with the AGS deal but also about what it views as strong fundamentals for the sector.

AviAlliance said: “AGS Airports, established in 2014, operates Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Southampton airports. These airports serve large and growing regions of the United Kingdom, significantly contributing to their local economies.

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“Operating within the attractive British air travel market, AGS Airports benefit from strong fundamentals and a continued demand for business and leisure travel, which is expected to drive growth in domestic and international passenger traffic.”

And it set out its own credentials in this area.

AviAlliance, founded in 1997 and acquired by PSP Investments in 2013, already has an international airport network, currently managing stakes in the airports of Athens, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, and San Juan in Puerto Rico.

It declared it has a “long track record of traffic growth, operational excellence and superior passenger experience as well as investment” at its airports.

AviAlliance noted that its existing portfolio of four airports together served 73 million passengers in 2023, an increase of more than 20% compared with 2022.

Its emphasis of its record of investing in its airports is encouraging to hear.

Sandiren Curthan, managing director and global head of infrastructure investments at PSP Investments, highlighted the overall scale of its operation.

He said: “PSP Investments is a significant investor across several sectors in Scotland and, more broadly, the United Kingdom, with over £10bn of investments in the United Kingdom. Our PSP infrastructure strategy consists of investing in sectors where PSP Investments has strong expertise and a track record of delivering value for our beneficiaries.”

Mr Curthan flagged how well airports fitted within PSP’s strategy. And he highlighted the wider importance of the airports being acquired.

This broader economic importance has been flagged repeatedly in recent times by AGS Airports chief executive Andy Cliffe.

Mr Cliffe highlighted in an exclusive interview with The Herald in February the calculation that 30,000 jobs were supported directly and indirectly by Glasgow Airport, which puts its contribution to economic output on the gross value added (GVA) measure at about £1.4bn.

Noting Glasgow Airport’s masterplan out to 2040, Mr Cliffe said then: “We want to add 15,000 to that job number. We want to add at least £1bn to that GVA number. That is the scale of the ambition we have got for the airport and the role it plays in the region.”

And he revealed his ambitions to add at least another one million to annual passenger numbers at Glasgow Airport this year, following a 14% increase to 7.4 million in 2023.

Mr Curthan, for his part, said this week: “Airports is a sector which fits that [PSP] strategy given AviAlliance’s deep operational expertise. We are delighted to add AGS Airports to our infrastructure portfolio and look forward to working with our key stakeholders to improve services to the communities in which AGS Airports operate, recognising the critical role that these airports play in supporting economic growth in Scotland and England.”

Enthusiastic talk on the day a deal is announced is all good and well.

However, while the signals look good, all eyes will from a Scottish perspective be on what the new owner of Glasgow and Aberdeen airports delivers once the deal is done, assuming it completes as planned.

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of continuing to rebuild connectivity in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Good progress has been made on this front to date.

Glasgow has bounced back strongly but is significantly behind Edinburgh these days in terms of passenger numbers.

Hopefully, that is an indication of the potential there is to build further on what has been an impressive post-pandemic recovery at Glasgow Airport.

What is clear is that there is much at stake here.

Again from a Scottish perspective, hopefully AviAlliance will deliver the new routes and investment that it says it will at Glasgow and Aberdeen airports.

It is already making a big investment in terms of the purchase price. Hopefully, it will now do its utmost to realise the full potential of these airports, for the good of passengers, airport staff and the employees of the many associated service providers, and the economies around them.