Airport History
The airport opened in 1936 as Scone Aerodrome. A flight training school, training military pilots, was established by Airwork Ltd shortly after the airport was opened. Before the war a number of scheduled airline services operated from Perth to various domestic locations. During the war 309 and 666 Squadrons from the Royal Air Force used the aerodrome. After the war Airwork moved into civilian pilot training.
By 1960 Airwork acquired Air Service Training (AST) an engineering training school, which it relocated from the south of England to the airport. The whole operation took on the AST name. AST gained a worldwide reputation for aviation training, being known as Britain's Air University. Students of more than 100 countries have been trained at Perth.
In 1997 Perth Airport was purchased by the Morris Leslie Group. When the airport was acquired there were a handful of companies based there, employing 37 people. Today there are over 50 companies employing over 400 people. The Group has invested a lot into the airport by refurbishing and developing the existing buildings and turning them into residential properties, serviced offices and workshops. Perth Airport has become accustomed to welcoming high profile figures such as the Queen, President George Bush, and Prince Andrew.
Perth Airport remains Scotland's main airport for general aviation and is the base of the Scottish Aero Club which was founded in 1927. The airport is home to flight training organisations providing, private and commercial fixed and rotary winged flight training, as well as micro light and autogyro training. Also on site is an aircraft maintenance company and numerous other non aviation related businesses.
Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) was formed in 2012 and launched a helicopter air ambulance in May 2013 to assist the Scottish Air Ambulance Service (SAAS) to deliver front-line care to time-critical emergencies across Scotland. SCAA provides a fully equipped medical helicopter that can be deployed from its central base at Perth Airport to incidents across the length and breadth of Scotland.
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