Edinburgh Airport has ‘busiest ever month’

Edinburgh Airport said it had the busiest ever month at a Scottish airport in July as international traffic from the Scottish capital rose 18.5% on the same month last year.

In total last month, 1,332,282 passengers flew through the airport — a 9.6 % per cent increase on the same month last year.

Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport’s Chief Executive, said: “The trend of expanding international passengers continues — and with a growing proportion of inbound passengers we are helping drive tourism, economic development and additional job creation in Scotland.

“European airports’ growth for the first half of the year is at 4.9%; our growth over same six month period compared to the last year is more than double that.

“Despite our encouraging growth there is evidence of damage to the aviation business that has followed the Brexit vote — this further highlights the need to reduce Air Passenger Duty as soon as possible.

“Cutting APD will be a strong demonstration of Scotland’s international ambitions.

“It will send a powerful signal to the global airline market that Scotland is most definitely open for business, and would go some way to counter the negative business impact of the UK’s plans to leave the EU.”

Meanwhile, Glasgow Airport said its monthly passenger numbers were also over one million in July.

A total of 1,018,433 people travelled through Glasgow Airport — a 6.4% increase on the same period last year.

Domestic traffic increased by 1.8% and Glasgow had a 9.4% surge on international passenger numbers.

Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said: “July is traditionally our busiest month, but to exceed the one million passenger mark is yet another significant achievement for Glasgow Airport in a year filled with milestones.

“Our strong performance in 2016 is a reflection of our continued efforts to enhance existing services and in attracting new routes such as this month’s in-bound Korean Air charter flights –– Scotland’s first direct air link with South Korean capital Seoul.

“Route development continues to be a key priority in driving growth at the airport.

“In October, Ryanair will introduce two city break destinations to Sofia and Brussels and four new winter sun services to Alicante,  Malaga, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, marking the two-year anniversary of the airline’s operations at Glasgow Airport.

“August is already proving busy thanks to large-scale events such as Glasgow’s annual Piping Live festival, which will see thousands of international visitors and participating musicians travel through the airport this month.”