New air traffic boss appointed at Prestwick

NATS, the UK’s leading provider of air traffic services and solutions, has appointed Alastair Muir as the new Operations Director at its control centre in Prestwick, Ayrshire.

Alastair brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role and succeeds Pauline Lamb, who is moving to become Chief Operating Officer at Airways New Zealand.

Alastair Muir

Alastair began his career in NATS as an engineer cadet and upon his graduation in 1987 started working at Prestwick Centre in engineering support. Since then he has held a range of operational and managerial roles throughout NATS, most recently representing the company in Brussels as International Strategy Director.

As Operations Director, Alastair will have responsibility for ensuring the day-to-day safe and efficient running of the air traffic service provided at Prestwick to its airline customers.

Martin Rolfe, NATS Managing Director Operations, said: “I am delighted to announce Alastair’s appointment in a key role as the Operations Director at Prestwick. His broad range of experience means he brings considerable expertise to the role and he is hugely respected both inside NATS and in the wider aviation community.

I would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Pauline Lamb for her 30 years of dedicated service to NATS and to wish her every success in her new role.”

Alastair Muir said: “I am extremely excited about returning to Prestwick and I am very much looking forward to the opportunity of leading the team at what is an exciting time for aviation.”

Prestwick Centre handles air traffic over northern England, Scotland and into the north eastern Atlantic. Its 750 staff handle up to 3,700 flights each day.

Download hi-res photos of Prestwick Centre from our Flickr photosteam.