More passengers at Scotland’s top airports

Published on 11/10/2011 18:34

All three of Scotland`s BAA-owned airports handled more passengers last month, with Edinburgh having its busiest-ever September.

Aberdeen saw a rise in passenger numbers of 11.3% in September compared with the same month last year, which the air operators said was partially down to the Offshore Europe biannual oil conference held in the city.

The airport’s success has spilled over into this month, as October 7 was its busiest-ever day for passengers. Almost 7,000 passed through security and a similar number are said to have arrived at the airport.

Passenger numbers at Glasgow grew by 3.2% on the previous year, with almost 700,000 people passing through the airport last month, making it the ninth consecutive month for passenger growth.

September was Edinburgh`s seventh consecutive busiest month on record, up by 3% on the same period last year.

A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said: “2011 has been a great year for the airport and for Edinburgh, as this month’s figures show. The continued resilience and appeal of Scotland’s capital makes us confident that we will be able to see continued growth and development at Edinburgh Airport.”

Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said: “Not since 2005 have we been able to report nine consecutive months of passenger growth and the main driver for this has been demand for international travel, particularly for our North American routes and Emirates’ hugely popular daily flight to Dubai.

“A considerable number of passengers are also travelling on our European routes, and this pattern will hopefully continue given the addition in recent months of a number of Europe’s major cities to our list of destinations.

“In regards to route development, there has been much to celebrate with the launch in September of Eastern Airways new route to Stavanger, Norway, and the reintroduction by Icelandair of its direct flight to Reykjavik, which provides onward connections to the airline’s North American destinations.

“Looking ahead, on October 31 easyJet will launch its direct flight to Amsterdam, while November will see Iberia launch flights to the Spanish capital of Madrid.”

Derek Provan, managing director of Aberdeen Airport, said: “We are delighted that passenger numbers are continuing to grow at Aberdeen Airport with another very strong performance, boosted by Offshore Europe. These figures underline the importance of Aberdeen Airport as the gateway to Europe’s energy capital.

“Signs for the first few days of October are also encouraging, with October 7 marking the busiest day for the airport on record: 6,919 passengers were processed through security in one day alone, with a similar number of arriving passengers.

“We’re currently preparing for what promises to be one of our busiest October-week holidays to date with hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers expected to travel through the airport between 14-17 October.”

BAA said its Scottish airports had maintained the “solid performance” seen over the summer, with a collective growth in passenger numbers of 4.3% last month on the same period last year.

However, competition chiefs have ruled that BAA, which owns six airports around the UK including Heathrow in London, will have to sell either Glasgow or Edinburgh airport.

Earlier this year the Competition Commission (CC) ruled that Stansted Airport in Essex should be sold first, followed by either Edinburgh or Glasgow.

The sales had been ordered by the CC following a lengthy investigation into whether BAA’s ownership of UK airports was anti-competitive.

But in the latest of a series of legal challenges, BAA has appealed against the Stansted sale. This led to the CC saying that the disposal of one of the Scottish airports should be brought forward, with the sale process expected to begin shortly.

The sale of Edinburgh or Glasgow would leave BAA with five airports: Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Aberdeen and either Edinburgh or Glasgow.