Edinburgh airport reports fall in passenger numbers

THE recently sold Edinburgh airport lost passengers for a second month in a row in April because of Ryanair cuts and uncertainty over the future of BMI, current owner BAA said today.

Its total passengers fell by 1.1 per cent to 767,500 compared to a year ago, while rival Glasgow was up 6.7 per cent to 547,200 and Aberdeen soared 11 per cent to 274,300.

Edinburgh airport is embroiled in a row with Ryanair, which has cut routes after failing to win a cut in landing fees, which has been interpreted as an attempt to strike an improved deal ahead of the airport sale.

BMI was bought last month by British Airways’ owner IAG, which last week announced the closure in September of its BMI Baby offshoot.

The airport is due to be taken over next month by Gatwick and London City airports owners Global Infrastructure Partners, which bought it for £807 million last month.

A spokesman for Edinburgh airport said: “Domestic flights, excluding London, suffered from uncertainty around BMI, and European traffic was also slightly down.”

Glasgow airport managing director Amanda McMillan said: “Despite the challenges presented by rising fuel costs and further increases in Air Passenger Duty, we have enjoyed considerable success in expanding our route network and this has been a major factor in encouraging more people to fly from Glasgow.”