Edinburgh Airport bucks the trend with rise in number of passengers

SCOTLAND'S busiest airport handled its most passengers ever last month, bucking the downward trend among the country's other main terminals.

A total of 961,200 people travelled through Edinburgh Airport in July - 0.6 per cent more than a year ago.

It compared to a 3.6 per cent fall at Glasgow to 788,900 and 4.1 per cent drop at Aberdeen to 276,900.

However, aviation experts said Edinburgh's gains had largely been at the expense of fellow BAA-owned Glasgow, which was the busiest until 2007.

Edinburgh's expansion has been fuelled largely by Ryanair, which has grown from two to 40 routes in two years. Together with EasyJet, still the airport's biggest airline, the no-frills carriers account for nearly half of its passengers.

However, Edinburgh is recovering from the recession, British Airways strikes and volcanic ash disruption, with passenger numbers down by 3.1 per cent to 8.68 million in the year to July.

Edinburgh City Council transport convener Gordon Mackenzie said: "Edinburgh continues to do well against comparable airports round Europe and the overall trend is upwards. There is no doubt Edinburgh will continue to grow as a place for business and leisure, especially from Europe."

However, aviation writer and former senior airline executive Richard Havers, who is a close observer of Scotland's main airports, said growth prospects were modest.

He predicted it would take years for Edinburgh's expanded departure lounge, which was officially opened last month, to reach its 13 million passenger capacity.

He said: "If you take Edinburgh and Glasgow together, they had fewer passengers last month - 1.75 million - than their combined total of 1.8 million in 2004.

"Edinburgh is not going to come anywhere close to its previously forecast total of 13 million by 2013. BAA will be lucky if it happens by 2020. People are making fewer trips, and considering the airport's capacity increase, its growth has not been that great."