Edinburgh Airport sets Scottish record with busiest month

This year 19 new international routes have launched from the airport, including Ryanair flights to Porto. Picture: TSPL

The airport enjoyed significant spikes in the number of international travellers, with a total of 1,413,272 using the hub last month.

The record-breaking figure, which is also an all-time high for any Scottish airport, has been hailed as “phenomenal” by airport officials, who hope to continue the rapid growth.

The statistics, released by the Civil Aviation Authority, show a major annual spike in passengers using the airport at one of the busiest times of the year, with numbers increasing 6.1 per cent on the 1,332,282 people who travelled via the airport last July.

One of the main factors behind the jump in passengers was the 934,731 people who made international journeys via Edinburgh, a 8.6 per cent increase on the same period 12 months ago.

There was also a modest increase in the number of domestic passengers which, at 478,641, was up 1.4 per cent on July 2016.

The record passenger figures were boosted by the launch of five new routes in June, which had their first full month of operation by the time the data was collated.

This year alone, 19 new international routes have launched from the airport, including Ryanair flights to Porto, easyJet’s service to Bilbao, British Airway’s Palma service, and flights to New York Providence and Connecticut via Norwegian.

The airport said that easyJet routes to the likes of Milan, Amsterdam, Madrid and Geneva have also benefited from more flights and “fuller” aircraft,” with increased passenger numbers on Norwegian’s European routes, particularly those flights to Oslo and Copenhagen.

Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said the hub was proving increasingly popular with people travelling around the world.

He said: “We are delighted to once again deliver the  busiest-ever month at a Scottish airport, highlighting the growing demand for flights in to and out of Edinburgh Airport. And it’s incredible to think it was only in July 2013 when we had our first million passenger month, so these latest figures demonstrate the phenomenal growth that we have achieved.

“The summer months are always busy but these figures show that Edinburgh Airport is becoming more popular, especially with international visitors who want to come and experience what Scotland has to offer.”

He added: “We are determined to continue that growth and key to that will be providing more variety and options for our passengers.

“All of this work underpins our strategy for growth and will deliver wide-ranging benefits to Scotland’s economy,” he added.

The CAA figures also showed that more than 1,082,000 passengers passed through Glasgow Airport last month, a 6.2 per cent annual rise.