Glasgow Airport, also known as Glasgow International Airport (), and formerly Abbotsinch Airport, is an international airport located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland, west of Glasgow city centre. The RAF Station headquarters, however, was not formed until 1 July 1936 when 6 Auxiliary Group, Bomber Command, arrived. During the 1950s the airfield housed a large aircraft storage unit and squadrons of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.
The Royal Navy left in October 1963.
;Units:
1960–1970
thumb|right|An Intra Airways [[Vickers Viscount at Glasgow Airport in 1979]]
In the 1960s Glasgow Corporation decided that a new airport for the city was required. The original site of Glasgow's main airport, Renfrew Airport, was east of the current airport, in what is now the Dean Park area of Renfrew. The original Art Deco terminal building of the original airport has not survived. The site is now occupied by a Tesco supermarket and the M8 motorway; this straight and level section of motorway occupies the site of the runway.
Abbotsinch took over from Renfrew Airport on 2 May 1966. The airport was officially opened on 27 June 1966 by Queen Elizabeth II. The political rows over Glasgow and Prestwick airports continued, with Prestwick enjoying a monopoly over transatlantic traffic (under the 1946 US-UK air transport agreement known as the Bermuda Agreement), while Glasgow Airport was only allowed to handle UK and intra-European traffic.
1970s–1990s
thumb|right|An [[easyJet Boeing 737-200 departing Glasgow in 1995]]
In 1975 the BAA took ownership of Glasgow Airport. When BAA was privatised in the late 1980s, as BAA plc, it consolidated its airport portfolio and sold Prestwick Airport. BAA embarked on a massive redevelopment plan for Glasgow Airport in 1989.
In the early 1990s Glasgow became the first UK airport, and one of the first in Europe to screen all baggage. Until this time, only 'high-risk' flights had their hand luggage and hold luggage checked. This was a result of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 on 21 December 1988 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.
An extended terminal building was created by building a pre-fabricated metal structure around the front of the original Basil Spence building, hence screening much of its distinctive Brutalist style architecture from view, with the void between the two structures joined by a glass atrium and walkway. Spence's original concrete facade which once looked onto Caledonia Road now fronts the check-in desks. The original building can be seen more clearly from the rear, with the mock barrel-vaulted roof visible when airside.
A dedicated international departure lounge and pier were added at the western side of the building, leaving the facility with a total of 38 gates, bringing its capacity up to nine million passengers per year. In 2003 BAA completed redevelopment work on a satellite building (called "T2", formerly the St Andrews Building), to provide a dedicated check-in facility for low-cost airlines, principally Jet2.com.
By 1996 Glasgow was handling over 5.5million passengers per year, making it the fourth-busiest in the UK.
Post-2000
thumb|right|Glasgow Airport Terminal 2 (T2) building
thumb|right|Glasgow Airport walkway
It serves a variety of destinations throughout Canada, Europe and the Middle East. The terminal consists of three piers; the West Pier, Central Pier and East Pier. The West Pier, commonly known as the International Pier, was built as part of the 1989 extension project and is the principal international and long haul departure point. All but two of the stands on this pier are equipped with airbridges. This pier has stands 27 - 36. In 2019, the pier received the ability to facilitate the Airbus A380 following an £8million upgrade.
The Central Pier is part of the original 1966 building. The main user of the pier is British Airways, who tend to use the majority of its gates, with London shuttles (to Heathrow, Gatwick and London City) making up almost all its traffic. The British Airways lounge is located on this pier, across from gate 15. Aer Lingus, Loganair, Jet2.com and TUI Airways also operate from the central pier. Most of the stands on this pier are equipped with airbridges. This pier has stands 14–26. work commenced on Skyhub (located between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2) which created a single, purpose-built security screening area in place of the previous individual facilities for each of the three piers, the other side effect being an enlarged duty-free shopping area created by taking most of the previous landside shopping and restaurant facilities airside. This new arrangement also frees up space in the departure lounges through the removal of the separate duty-free shops in the West and Central Piers. This however meant that the former public viewing areas of the apron are now airside, making the airport inaccessible to aviation enthusiasts and spectators.
Future growth is hampered by the airport's location, which is constrained by the M8 motorway to the south, the town of Renfrew to the east and the River Clyde to the north. At present the areas of Drumchapel, Clydebank, Bearsden, Foxbar, Faifley and Linwood all sit directly underneath the approach paths into the airport, meaning that further increases in traffic may be politically sensitive. The airport is challenged by Edinburgh Airport, which now serves a wider range of European destinations and has grown to overtake Glasgow as Scotland's busiest airport. The Scottish Government announced in 2002 that a rail line – known as the Glasgow Airport Rail Link (GARL) – would be built from Glasgow Central station to Glasgow Airport. The rail link was to be completed by 2012 with the first trains running early in 2013. In 2009, however, it was announced by the Scottish Government that the plan had been cancelled.
Currently, the airport is easily accessible by road due with direct access to the adjoining M8 motorway. It is also served by a frequent bus service, the Glasgow Airport Express, which operates services to the city centre. The service is run by First Glasgow and all buses feature leather seats, USB charging ports and free WiFi. The airport is home to the Scottish regional airline Loganair, previously a Flybe franchise operator, who have their head office<!--Head office supported by cite--> located on site. British Airways has a maintenance hangar at the airport, capable of carrying out overhaul work on Airbus A320, as well as a cargo facility. The RAF also has a unit based within the airport – The Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde Air Squadron – to provide flying training to university students who plan to join the RAF.
In 2007 Glasgow became the second-busiest airport in Scotland as passenger numbers were surpassed by those at Edinburgh Airport.
2007 terrorist attack
thumb|The aftermath of the [[2007 Glasgow Airport attack]]
On 30 June 2007, a day after the failed car bomb attacks in London, an attack at Glasgow International Airport occurred. A flaming Jeep Cherokee was driven into the entrance of Main Terminal. Two men, one alight, fled the vehicle before being apprehended by a group of police officers, airport security officers and witnesses. One of the men died in the following months due to his injuries. New barriers and security measures have since been added.
Airline expansion
Icelandair temporarily moved its base of operations from Keflavík International Airport to Glasgow due to the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull.
On 10 April 2014 the airline Emirates operated an Airbus A380 to Glasgow to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Glasgow–Dubai route, and was the first time an A380 had visited a Scottish airport.
In July 2014 Emirates opened a dedicated lounge at the airport for First and Business class passengers. It is located at the top of the West Pier. In October 2014 Heathrow Airport Holdings reached an agreement to sell the airport, together with Southampton and Aberdeen, to a consortium of Ferrovial and Macquarie Group for £1billion.
In 2017 easyJet became the first airline to carry more than one million passengers from the airport in a period of 12 months.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
<!--DO NOT ADD OR REMOVE ROUTES WITHOUT GIVING A VALID INDEPENDENT SOURCE. EXACT DATES ARE MANDATORY FOR NEW ROUTES TO BE ADDED HERE. ALSO ADD INLINE CITATIONS IF POSSIBLE.-->The following airlines operate regular scheduled flights to and from Glasgow: