Sodexho is flying high at Glasgow airport
Now holidaying families can sample the VIP lifestyle. An airport lounge, normally the preserve of globe-trotting VIPs and busy business commuters, has opened at Glasgow airport specifically targeting holiday making families.
The facility, which also includes a dedicated business lounge, is being run for BAA by Sodexho, one of the UK's leading catering and support services providers. The complex, part of a £10million redevelopment of Glasgow airport's international pier, is expected to have a turnover of around £400,000 a year.
Sodexho won the three-year contract against fierce competition. Sodexho operations director Richard Cripps, who specialises in airport business for the company, said: “What makes this unusual is that the lounges are not dedicated to one particular airline - they are a development by BAA which anyone can use.
“However a number of airlines such as Emirates, Icelandair and American Airlines are using the facility for their VIP passengers. The surroundings are plush yet contemporary with the very best of facilities. While the holiday lounge is aimed at the family market, business travellers are catered for with a dedicated, adults only wing.”
Sodexho already operates the KLM lounge at Glasgow airport and believes the high standard it is achieving for the airline helped clinch the deal with BAA. The rapidly growing international airport already handles 8.7million passengers a year and caters for 50 airlines.
The new complex, which opened in April, is being marketed under the new brand 'skylounge' and passengers can book in advance on line. Indeed, even before the facility opened 2,500 bookings had already been made.
