The shops are new, the bar is new, and so are many of the routes. But it was the memories that took wing yesterday when Prestwick Airport unveiled its latest face-lift.
The occasion was marked by the unveiling of a plaque in honour of - who else - Elvis Presley, set Sunset Boulevard-fashion in the concourse floor. Airport publicists had cranked up the nostalgia by bringing in Elvis impersonator Gordon Hendricks, but if anyone there could tell him from the real thing it was Ian Ghee.
In 1960 Mr Ghee, now 74, was an Air Ministry photographer seconded to the US Air Force, his beat ranging from accident reports, PR work, and keeping the GIs' local papers back home supplied with pictures of their boys over here. His boss asked him to come back into work that night because "someone special" was coming in, but to keep it under his hat.
Only when he was heading for home did the major let him into the secret. The incoming VIP was Sgt Elvis Presley, on a refuelling stopover on his way from Germany to the US at the end of his two years' national service.
Mr Ghee got busy taking pictures and his brother Robert, whom he had smuggled in, got busy introducing himself to the King, helping him out when he went into the sergeant's mess to phone his girlfriend Priscilla back in Frankfurt.
"Where am I, again?"
"You're in Prestwick, Scotland." Mr Ghee did not do too badly either. His negatives were later auctioned by Christie's for £7500, a fair sum for those days given that the pictures' significance was fully appreciated.
Since his retirement he has followed fellow-snappers Henri Cartier-Bresson and Cecil Beaton by turning to the canvas, photographing landscapes in the summer and painting them in winter. The unveiling of the plaque was performed by transport minister Stewart Stevenson, who has his own memories of the place. A qualified pilot, he has gone one better than Elvis by flying himself in and out of Prestwick on a number of occasions.
However, he recalled: "The first time I came here was 20 years ago, when I flew in a Tupolev 104 on an Aeroflot charter to Moscow, an experience I am not signing up to repeat any time soon.
"But at the time the facilities at Prestwick were a great comfort before I went and, on my return, something of a relief."
As part of the revamp, the airport has introduced a number of new retail brands and a bar, while the departures lounge has a new tax and duty free store.
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