AIRPORT ENJOYS A RED-HOT SUMMER

Edinburgh Airport is set for a record-breaking summer. Picture: Ian Georgeson

EDINBURGH Airport is gearing up for a record-breaking summer after revealing it has just experienced the busiest-ever June at any Scottish airport.

A total of 1,173,953 passengers passed through the airport last month – a 6.8 per cent increase on the same month last year.

And the airport expects July and August will also see record passenger numbers.

A senior source said: “Every month of 2016 has shown significant growth on the 2015 figures and summer is always the peak period. We’re pretty confident we’re on course for our busiest summer ever.”

Edinburgh Airport first reached a million passengers in a month three years ago and has continued growing steadily since then.

Airport bosses hailed the latest figures as showing “another great month”.

July and August passenger figures were over a million in both 2013 and 2014.

And last year, May, June, July, August, September and October all saw more than a million passengers.

So far this year, April, May and June have all been million passenger months.

The number of domestic passengers actually fell by 3.9 per cent last month to 458,314 compared with 477,045 in June last year.

But international passengers soared by 15.1 per cent from 621,814 to 715,639, mainly due the launch of new routes.

These included easyJet’s new Stuttgart, Vienna and Venice services; Ryanair’s new Copenhagen service and increased flights to Barcelona, Alicante, Malta, Palma de Mallorca and Krakow; Vueling services to Rome Fiumicino, Paris Orly and Alicante; and Jet2.com to Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.

Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar used the new figures to bolster the case for altering flight paths to cope with the growth in traffic. He said: “June’s record-breaking passenger numbers make this another great month at Edinburgh Airport.

“Our continual growth underlines the need for Edinburgh Airport to adapt so we can accommodate the ever-increasing number of people wanting to fly in and out of Scotland’s capital city.

“It is for this reason that we are engaged in the initial consultation stage of an Airspace Change Programme and I would encourage everyone to log on and have their say to help the design of future flight-path changes.”

The first stage of the consultation runs until September 12. Flight-path options will then be presented in a second consultation to start on December 16.

On the prospects for a record-breaking summer, an airport spokesman said: “As we continue to deliver our growth through choice strategy, we have reason to be optimistic that this upward trend will continue, but we take nothing for granted and remain focused on improving the passenger experience and offering new routes and destinations to and from Scotland’s capital.”