A study by BiGGAR Economics has found that Edinburgh Airport contributes nearly £1 billion to the Scottish economy every year and supports more than 23,000 jobs.

The airport now handles more than 11 million passengers a year compared with around five million in 1999.

“Edinburgh Airport is an increasingly important economic asset for the country as a whole, and these figures demonstrate just how important a competitive airport is for a country with Scotland’s ambition and international profile,” said Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport’s chief executive.

“Our growth in recent years has been supported by one of the largest private investments of its kind in national infrastructure, to build new facilities and attract an unprecedented number of new, direct international connections to Scotland.

“The result, as the BiGGAR report shows, is nearly £1 billion of economic value and a social impact that extends to more than 20,000 jobs. Those figures will increase and by 2020, we could be supporting twice as many jobs as we do now.”

Malcolm Roughead, chief executive of VisitScotland, said: “As Scotland’s busiest airport, Edinburgh Airport plays an important role in Scottish tourism, not least in offering many domestic and international visitors an introduction to our wonderful country.

“Strengthening air connectivity is key to growing the visitor economy and we welcome this predicted growth at Edinburgh Airport which will have a knock-on effect for tourism across the whole of Scotland.”

Read the full BiGGAR Economics study here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxzJanXnJvd3LVc4ZU9sMlFWSmc/view?pref=2&pli=1