PRESTWICK Airport has released a statement following a warning from Humza Yousaf that allowing the site to be used by US Air Force jets could make Scotland complicit in war crimes.
The Herald reports that the government-owned airport said it was “providing aviation services to military customers from around the world including Nato partners”.
It comes after Constitution Secretary Angus Robertson insisted the base was not used in recent American bombing raids on Iran.
We told how Yousaf said he hoped the Scottish Government would take advice on its “legal obligations” including US planes refuelling at Prestwick. He called on First Minister John Swinney to distance himself from Israel’s genocide in Gaza and “illegal” strikes on Iran.
"Scotland, including through the use of our publicly owned assets such as Prestwick, cannot be complicit,” the former first minister said.
“The Scottish Government should be doing everything within its power to distance itself from Israel’s illegal military actions, whether it’s the assets we own, the limited foreign interventions we can make…Whatever we can do, we should be doing because this is the moral question of our time."
US military aircraft have stopped at Prestwick 39 times since the start of June.
And now, the airport has released a statement in response to the row.
"For almost 80 years the airport has been providing aviation services to military customers from around the world including Nato partners.
“We do not comment on operational matters relating to individual military customers.
“All aircraft landing at any aerodrome in the UK (including Glasgow Prestwick Airport) require to have Civil Aviation Authority permission to transit UK airspace or land in the UK.”
Earlier this week, Robertson was asked by Scottish Labour backbencher Carole Mochan whether the Scottish Government would rule out allowing the US and Israel access to Prestwick Airport while they carried out strikes on Iran.
Robertson said that he had “not seen any information that would support any conclusion about involvement of Scottish facilities being used directly in terms of military attacks on Iran”.
He added that previous strikes did not involve the airport and American jets were refuelled “in the air” before bombing Iran, returning to the US without stopping at Prestwick.
