A total of 1,206,540 passengers passed through Edinburgh Airport last month, making it the busiest April on record at Scotland’s busiest airport.

The total number of passengers was up 5.7% on April last year — with international passengers growing 7.2% to 757,608 and domestic passengers growing 3.1% to 448,932.

Edinburgh Airport CEO Gordon Dewar said: “It’s great to see growth in both our domestic and international markets, especially after a flat month in March due to the Beast from the East, and this has resulted in our busiest April ever.

“We’re flying to more destinations than ever before with 22 new routes launching since this time last year, 21 of those to international destinations which is expanding our reach and opening Scotland to even more of the world.

“We’ve recently announced two fantastic additions in Beijing with Hainan and Dubai with Emirates and they will attract even more tourists and expand business opportunities, as will our direct flight to Washington with United which comes online later this month– these are all immensely exciting for the capital and Scotland.”

Owner Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) has recently explored a possible sale of Edinburgh Airport — with investment bankers saying it could fetch up to £2 billion.

A potential sale of Edinburgh Airport was cancelled in 2017 by GIP because Brexit uncertainties would have affected the price tag.

GIP bought Edinburgh Airport for £807 million from BAA more than five years ago.