International passengers up 37.6% at Edinburgh

A 37.6% increase in international passenger numbers helped Edinburgh Airport have its busiest March ever.

International passenger soared from 358,450 in March last year to 493,200 last month.

Domestic passengers in March this year rose 0.2% to 434,078, from 433,099 in March 2015.

Total passenger numbers in March were up 17.1% to a record 927,200.

Edinburgh Airport said easyJet’s new Stuttgart, Vienna and Venice services boosted its international passenger numbers.

Also, more passengers travelled to Amsterdam, Geneva, Milan, Madrid and Munich — and Ryanair Santander now operates year round from Edinburgh.

Qatar Airways’ Edinburgh-Doha service now flies daily.

“These record breaking passenger figures from March underline Edinburgh Airport’s growing international ambitions and are very welcome indeed,” said Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport’s chief executive.

Meanwhile, Glasgow Airport also recorded its busiest March on record with more than 660,000 passengers — an increase of 9% on the same period last year.

Glasgow Airport exceeded 8.9 million passengers during a rolling 12 month period for the first time ever.

International traffic grew by 11% due to strong demand on European routes to Berlin, Dusseldorf and Bucharest.

Aer Lingus added capacity on its Dublin service and Air France launched a new service to Paris-Charles de Gaulle.

Glasgow’s domestic traffic increased by 7.2% with Flybe, EasyJet and Loganair all adding capacity.

British Airways and Ryanair also reported strong demand for their London services.

Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport said: “Our passenger numbers continue to benefit from Glasgow’s success in attracting large scale events, such as the World Irish Dancing Championships which saw over 5,000 competitors from 20 different countries descend on the city last month.”