New antipodean at the controls has big plans for Prestwick Airport
05.02.06
Mark Rodwell, the new Prestwick airport chief, is already firing up the development of his new base. The former Sydney airport operations manager arrived last month determined to stamp his own mark on the fast-growing gateway.
Rodwell, 42, is following in the footsteps of fellow Australian Steve Fitzgerald, whom he succeeded in Sydney and who persuaded him to go to Prestwick. However, Prestwick's latest antipodean recruit said he will be doing very much more than simply looking after the changes made before Fitzgerald refocused his role on the New Zealand-owned airport group's expansion into Europe.
Fitzgerald - who was appointed a year ago - will concentrate on attracting new business at Prestwick and developing parent firm Infratil's new acquisitions of Manston airport in Kent and Lübeck, near Hamburg. By contrast, Rodwell is already busy streamlining Prestwick's operations with a major management shake-up, while also overseeing the continuing upgrade of the terminal and its transport links.
Prestwick airport has seen rapid expansion to more than two million passengers a year, but this has been followed by a recent lull because of a lack of new routes and delays in Ryanair receiving new planes, which have forced the airline to cut frequencies from the airport to Stansted and Dublin.
However, renewed growth is expected to follow the launch of five new links over the next two months by Ryanair, KLM-offshoot Transavia and Wizz Air, eastern Europe's largest no-frills airline.
In his first interview since taking over as chief executive, Rodwell told The Scotsman newspaper that he had clearly set out his plans when Fitzgerald had e-mailed to ask what it would take to persuade him to join Infratil's Prestwick team.
Rodwell said: ' I come from a very strong operational background and can see areas for improvement, some of which will involve significant changes.' Among these, and one of his first tasks, has been restructuring the airport's management to improve efficiency, reducing the number of managers reporting to him directly from 14 to eight.
The process, which is ongoing, will include combining roles, such as those of passenger service manager and ground services manager, to create a seamless operation that brings together passenger handling from check-in to boarding gate with aircraft handling and baggage. Rodwell said passengers should notice little difference, other than baggage from incoming flights arriving faster.
The new chief executive has inherited a partially revamped passenger terminal, whose shops and check-in hall have been upgraded and flooring replaced following an Infratil director's infamous comment that it looked 'shambolic'. However, the project has yet to be complete, with a new leading-name coffee concession due to be announced this week and a series of additional retail units to be added, some of which will only operate during the summer in an attempt to cash in on peak passenger flows.
Rodwell also wants the airport's railway station - currently Scotland's only dedicated rail link - improved, with repainting and better information.
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