Passenger Number Soar At Scotland's Airports

11 October 2017, 11:21 | Updated: 11 October 2017, 11:22

The number of passengers passing through Scottish airports has continued to rise.

International visitors at Edinburgh Airport increased by 14.1% during its busiest September, according to the latest figures.

Last month 1,291,640 passengers used airport which was up 8.4% on the same month in 2016.

Airport chiefs say it is the sixth month in a row more than one million passengers have passed through the airport.

Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport said: "The fact that international passengers are driving continued growth is an indication of the global appeal that Edinburgh and Scotland has - people want to say they've been here and experienced our culture, our history and all the other fantastic things we have to offer.

"Our domestic numbers remain strong, which highlights the healthy passenger mix that we have at Edinburgh Airport.

"We're constantly looking to add more options for passengers, such as the new Washington DC route from next summer, and we're investing in improved facilities for passengers so we can accommodate increasing demand."

Elsewhere, Glasgow Airport bosses said they had also seen their busiest September on record with more than 972,900 passengers travelling through its doors. This was a 4.1% increase on last year's passenger numbers.

EU scheduled services increased by 15% on the same period last year following strong demand on a number of routes including Milan, Brussels, Valencia and Lisbon.

Long-haul routes were up 10% and international traffic grew by 10.2% with transatlantic routes to New York, Toronto and Vancouver reporting strong demand.

Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said: "I'm pleased to report our strong performance throughout the year continued with our best-ever passenger numbers in September despite the wider industry facing a number of challenges.

"We remain on course to record our most successful year ever and this can be attributed to our continued focus on not only attracting new services such as Frankfurt, but by also working closely with our current airline partners to enhance existing routes.

"Looking ahead, we are now gearing up for the October Week, which is traditionally our busiest period of the year as tens of thousands of passengers jet off on sun and city breaks."

Aberdeen International Airport chiefs said numbers had increased year on year for the fifth consecutive month.

A total of 284,899 passengers travelled from the airport during September with an overall passenger increase of 3.9%.

The growth represented a 7.2% increase in domestic fixed-wing traffic and a 3.3% increase in international fixed-wing traffic.

Carol Benzie, managing director of Aberdeen International Airport, said: "It is fantastic to see our passenger numbers continue to increase throughout 2017.

"In September we saw the return of the SPE Offshore Europe conference which strengthened numbers through our terminal.

"This, along with the continued strong performances of our domestic and international leisure routes, is reflected by the encouraging increase in fixed-wing passenger numbers that we have seen in September."