Ryanair has announced a £40-million (€46.2-million) expansion of its maintenance facility at Prestwick Airport, sometimes called Glasgow Prestwick, southwest of Glasgow in Scotland.
The development will entail the construction of a new 11,938m2, 4-bay heavy maintenance hangar and workshops, taking Prestwick to 10 bays overall and making it Ryanair’s largest heavy maintenance hangar. Supporting around 1,200 engineering and mechanic jobs in Ayrshire, including 450 highly-skilled engineer and mechanic roles, alongside 60 apprenticeships, the facility is expected to provide “significant long-term employment and training opportunities for local talent,” Ryanair said in a PR statement.
Ryanair CEO, Eddie Wilson, thanked various partners, including “DFM Forbes and the Scottish Govt, the UK Govt, South Ayrshire Council, Scottish Enterprise, and Prestwick Airport for their support and partnership on this expansion.” He praised their “focused approach” and said their backing was “crucial in enabling us to grow Prestwick into a major heavy maintenance and training hub that will deliver skilled careers and economic benefits for many years to come.”
Brilliant news for Ayrshire – 450 new skilled jobs in Prestwick as Ryanair expands its maintenance hub.
— John Swinney (@JohnSwinney) March 20, 2026
This week alone we've announced over 2,300 new jobs coming to Scotland.
Much of that is down to the immense work of Kate Forbes, and I can't thank her enough. pic.twitter.com/RxExov7QIv
The Scottish are putting £15 million (€36 million) into the project. Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney said it would “support the creation of 450 skilled jobs at Prestwick, which will have a major economic impact in Ayrshire and beyond.”
The UK government is providing £4.9 million (€5.7 million) towards enabling infrastructure for Ryanair’s heavy maintenance hangar, funding that is part of an overall £32 million (€37 million) injection for the Prestwick Aerospace Cluster to position Ayrshire as a leading UK aerospace hub. UK Government Minister for Scotland, Kirsty McNeill called its contribution to support the expansion alongside Scottish Enterprise, “a fantastic example of significant public sector funding” that would aid in “unlocking substantial private sector investment, boosting employment and driving economic renewal in Scotland.”
Alongside Ryanair’s recent £5-million investment into Prestwick Training Academy, opened in October 2024, the hangar would mean “the next generation of Scottish engineers has a world-class career path right on their doorstep. The sky’s the limit for Ayrshire as a global leader in the aerospace sector,” McNeill added.
📢🛫NEWS
— UK Government Scotland (@UKGovScotland) March 20, 2026
UK Government Minister @kirstyjmcneill was at Prestwick as @Ryanair announced a £40m investment made possible by the UK Gov’s Ayrshire Growth Deal.
This expansion is securing 1,200 highly skilled jobs by building Ryanair’s largest heavy maintenance hangar in Europe. pic.twitter.com/T9aOMGXidr
Glasgow Prestwick Airport provided the long-term land lease for the new Ryanair hangar. Its CEO, Ian Forgie, said the hub had enjoyed a “strong partnership with Ryanair for more than 30 years and this agreement secures that relationship for the long term and provides a strong platform for passenger growth in the future.”
The Ryanair expansion of aircraft hangar space comes at a time when maintenance and storage facilities for planes have become a hot topic. With planes grounded due to hundreds of cancelled flights, Qatar Airways and other major airlines are reported to be moving parts of their fleet out of the Middle East to a remote European facility in what appears to be anticipation of ongoing airspace disruption.
