Glasgow Prestwick Airport (PIK) has played a key role in supporting National Airlines in completing its longest-ever cargo flight, transporting a critical aerospace component from Scotland to Melbourne Airport (MEL), Australia, to assist a grounded aircraft.
The near 20-hour journey covered 9,849 miles and leveraged Prestwick’s 24/7 unrestricted operations, in-house cargo handling expertise, and close proximity to a major aerospace cluster.
Jules Matteoni, Chief Executive Officer of Glasgow Prestwick Airport, said: “Glasgow Prestwick combines unrestricted operations with highly experienced in-house teams and direct access to an established aerospace cluster, enabling us to support complex, time-critical missions at short notice.
“Congratulations to our valued partners at National Airlines on this remarkable achievement. We believe this flight is also the longest commercial cargo operation ever performed by a B777F worldwide.
“We are proud to have contributed to this mission and remain ready to support urgent charter requirements whenever speed and flexibility are essential.”
The flight was operated by National Airlines using its newly introduced Boeing 777 freighter, brokered by Golden Aviation, in response to an urgent aircraft-on-ground (AOG) requirement. The critical component was transported directly from PIK to MEL without delay.
Alan White, Chief Growth Officer at National Airlines, commented: “This historic mission goes beyond setting records—it demonstrates our capability to deliver mission-critical cargo anywhere in the world, combining speed, operational excellence, and global reach.
“Our flight operations, maintenance, dispatch, and ground teams are prepared to mobilise our freighter fleet within hours of a customer request, executing unique, time-sensitive missions with exceptional precision.
“We also extend our sincere thanks to the Glasgow Prestwick Airport team for their operational flexibility and specialist support in facilitating the movement of AOG components and ensuring the mission was completed on schedule.”
David Giles, Director of Operations at Golden Aviation, added: “This was effectively a ‘go-now’ B777F operation, which required seamless coordination across all stakeholders to arrange landing, handling, parking, processing, loading, refuelling, and slot approvals over the weekend.
“This enabled the aircraft to operate at the earliest opportunity on Monday, with positioning taking place the following morning.
“The Prestwick team delivered a flawless operation from start to finish, ensuring the aircraft was handled efficiently and departed exactly as scheduled.
“They were a reliable and professional partner throughout. This time-critical charter would not have been possible without their responsiveness, expertise, and commitment across every aspect of ground handling. A huge thank you to everyone involved in making this urgent mission a success.”