28 . Glasgow Business February 2017
FLYING After 50 years at the top, Glasgow G
lasgow Airport has 9.4 million reasons to celebrate. Tat’s how many passengers passed through its gates in 2016. Te airport capped an
outstanding 50 years by winning three awards at Te Glasgow Business Awards. Glasgow Business caught up with Amanda McMillan, the Managing Director, to ask about the year ahead.
What kind of year are you expecting in 2017?
Hopefully an even busier one than 2016, which was a truly special year for Glasgow Airport. We capped off our Golden Anniversary in 2016 by carrying 9.4 million passengers – a record in the airport’s 50 years of operation that sets us on a trajectory towards 10 million passengers. Tis year won’t be without its challenges,
particularly as Brexit continues to unfold. However, in my near 10 years here there’s always been a major issue to work through, be it constitutional, industry strikes, terrorist atacks, severe weather and even volcanic eruptions. In each case you return to the fundamentals
of running the airport efficiently, working hard on route development and investing in your services and infrastructure in order to continually improve the passenger experience.
You have often described Glasgow Airport as like a mini Scottish town. How have you gone about building this community?
I believe we are a town like no other. More than 5,000 people are employed at 120 separate businesses across the wider campus, of which Glasgow Airport Ltd accounts for around 500 people. Our workforce is diverse and covers such a wide range of professions and jobs. We had a choice: stay disparate and
operate as a collection of semi-independent businesses or strive to create a shared ambition. Building a community with shared values is the decision we made. We introduced our Customer
Charter, used extensive training and storytelling to demonstrate to everyone how we were going to achieve it. We never feel we’re done, but the vast majority are proud to work here and play their part in delivering for our customers. Our core values of care, pride and passion are fundamental in delivering a successful customer service strategy. Our reputation for customer
service is wholly dependent on our people.
What role does the airport have in helping to stimulate wider economic benefits in the Glasgow and Clyde areas?
Te Glasgow City region is Scotland’s economic powerhouse and the connectivity provided by the airport is a major contributor to its success. As well as being a key economic driver, we
play a major role in connecting the country with the rest of the world by creating routes to global markets. Commerce follows connectivity and our role is to act as an enabler, securing the routes that help to drive tourism, encourage exports and atract inward investment.
You’ve been developing some great new routes... which one has been a pleasant surprise?
We introduced more than 50 routes and services over the last two years and established Scotland’s first direct link with Seoul through
Amanda McMillan
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