Between them the 349 air traffic controllers at the Prestwick centre guide 42% of aircraft movements in UK airspace.
And now they are gearing up to face an even greater challenge.
The air traffic control centre, which opened two years ago, is learning all it can from the planning for the Olympics this summer, ahead of the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Although the Prestwick centre's sister control centre in Swanwick, Hampshire will bear the brunt of the 3000 extra business flights, Scotland is learning all it can.
Air traffic controllers based in the Ayrshire centre control flights coming in from halfway across the Atlantic as well as Scottish flight services and military aircraft activity.
Run by National Air Traffic Services, a company which controls aircraft in the east Atlantic and UK airspace, the centre employs a total staff of around 800, including 349 air traffic controllers, engineers, and Ministry of Defence staff.
The Prestwick centre controls more than 42% of aircraft movements in UK airspace and covers an area of 1.1million square miles, which is the largest area of responsibility in Europe.
The controllers' job is to create flight paths that keep the aircraft 1000ft apart vertically and five nautical miles apart laterally.
They sit in a huge room surrounded by computer screens showing coloured dots, representing aircraft, all over the north east of Britain and the North Atlantic.
On the wall there are clocks showing UTC – the standard time that the world sets its clocks at – currently one hour behind British summertime.
The room is divided into different areas where supervisors, controllers looking after transatlantic flights, Scottish arrivals, North Sea aeroplanes and flights coming into Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.
The RAF also have a hub of desks for controlling military aircraft.
Gary Heaton, 53, from Irvine has been an air traffic controller for more than 30 years.
He came to Prestwick from Manchester in 1993 and has been guiding thousands of aircraft since.
Gary said: "The NATS train you very well, so you are trained to deal with what looks to most people outside looking in like a stressful occupation.
"When a busy spell hits you, you tend to just put your head down and get on with it and at the end of the time you think 'that was busy' but you are trained to cope with the stressful periods.
"After 30 years I have seen most situations that can occur, I have had my share of emergencies and busy periods and you just learn to cope with it.
"I am often asked 'How do you cope with the fact that each of those blips is an aeroplane with three or four hundred people on it'.
"However, you have a job to do and if you have got to sort out two aeroplanes that are potentially in conflict with each other or 20 planes that all require level changes, the nature of the job is the same.
"You keep 1000ft and five nautical miles between them - apply those principles and get on with it."
Gary continued: "It will get busy at the time of the Olympics, but I am sure procedures will be in place so we can cope with it."
More than 500,000 extra visitors are expected to arrive in the UK via the airways this summer, alongside 70,000 overseas Games families, 20,000 journalists and around 150 head of state flights.
Pauline Lamb, operation director at Prestwick, said the company was expecting a "boom" of visitors two to three days before the Olympics' opening ceremony, again before the 100m races and again after the closing ceremony when everyone would be leaving London.
But, she said, Scotland is only expecting around a 15% rise in air traffic this summer.
Pauline said the company hopes to provide a seamless service during the Games this summer.
She said : "It is like another project, something from which we will learn.
"Through this will have the chance to try new things and as we evolve our air traffic systems, trying new things is the only way we can progress.
"From that perspective it is great to take it on and it is great to work with all the different parties involved."
Pauline reckons that it is a privilege that the people in Ayrshire can contribute to the Olympic Games.
She said: "The South East of England and Swanwick centre is at the forefront of making sure the London terminal area runs efficiently, and that's where the major challenge is.
"However, a number of extra flights will be controlled from Prestwick centre and it is a privilege to be part of it."
Pauline predicted a 10% to 15% rise in the amount of air traffic being controlled by Prestwick at the time of the Olympics.
She said: "It is difficult to say, but I think we will see an increase of between and 10% and 15% air traffic, whereas the South East of England will be working a tremendous amount more aeroplanes as they get them from the Far East and the Middle East."
Ahead of the Commonwealth Games, staff at Prestwick will this summer take on board as much as they can.
The planning for 2014 is on hold for the timebeing.
Pauline said: "Our work at the time of the Commonwealth Games will still be a major undertaking because we aren't normally as busy as the South East of England but will be during that period.
"My management team have been very much keeping involved in the Olympic planning so that we have the right procedures and the best way of operating for the Olympic games.
"For air traffic controllers who have experience of work during the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games should be a walk in the park."
matty.sutton@eveningtimes.co.uk
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