Glasgow Airport was owned and operated on its launch by Glasgow Corporation. The Terminal Building was officially opened by the Queen on 27th June 1966, the first flight landing being a BEA Viscount aircraft from Edinburgh. The airport was geared towards the newly available jet aircraft, and many airlines first introduced their new aircraft on Glasgow routes. During the Airport's first year, it handled 654 different aircraft and a total of 1.5 million passengers. Once again, new airlines were attracted to the Airport, including Wardair, Iberia and SAS.

The 1970's saw another large jump in passenger numbers, mainly due to the explosion in package holidays. British Airways was also introduced due to the merger of BOAC and BEA and Glasgow started handling large wide body jets for the first time when BEA operated Lockheed Tri-Star's from the Airport, and Laker flew DC-10's on package trips to Spain. The main runway at the airfield was extended by 2000 feet to accommodate such aircraft. 1975 also saw the introduction of British Airways "Shuttle Service" to London. In 1975, the airport ownership was transferred to the British Airport Authority, who decided that the airport required expansion, which began in 1976.

The International section of Glasgow's terminal building was expanded to cope with the larger influx of passengers in 1976, at a cost of £2 million. The expansion and the upgrade would allow the airport to reach a passenger capacity of 3.5 million.