It is located in Paisley, Renfrewshire, 8.6 nautical miles (15.9 km; 9.9 mi) west[1] of Glasgow city centre.

Glasgow Airport was opened in 1966 and originally flights only operated to other places in the United Kingdom and Europe.

[6] The RAF Station HQ, however, was not formed until 1 July 1936 when 6 Auxiliary Group, Bomber Command, arrived.

[7] During the 1950s, the airfield housed a large aircraft storage unit and squadrons of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve.

[6][20] The UK Government had already committed millions into rebuilding Glasgow Prestwick Airport fit for the "jet age".

Nevertheless, the plan went forward and the new airport, designed by Basil Spence and built at a cost of £4.2 million, it was completed in 1966, with British European Airways beginning services using De Havilland Comet aircraft.

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.

A dedicated international departure lounge and pier was 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.

The East Pier, constructed in the mid-1970s, was originally used for international flights but in recent years has been re-developed for use by low-cost airlines.

[25] In late 2007,[27] work commenced on Skyhub (located between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2)[28] 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 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 located on site.

[30] British Airways has a maintenance hangar at the airport, capable of carrying out overhaul work on Airbus A320, as well as a cargo facility.

[31] Icelandair temporarily moved its base of operations from Keflavík International Airport to Glasgow due to the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull.

[36][37] On 16 April 2019, Emirates launched a daily A380 flight on the Glasgow – Dubai route, making it the first regular A380 service in Scotland.

[98] This long-term contract resulted in the company investing in the development of new infrastructure at the airport, with the creation of the Scottish Specialist Transport and Retrieval (ScotSTAR) facility.

[102][103] BAA's plans, which are expected to cost some £290 million over the next 25 years, come in response to a forecasted trebling of annual passenger numbers passing through the airport by 2030.

As of late 2017, there are plans to build a light rail link that will connect the city centre to the airport via Govan, with plans already underway to begin construction of the project after the cancellation of the original Glasgow Airport Rail Link project.

Started in 2011, the service runs direct via the M8 motorway having previously been operated by Arriva Scotland West.