Retired senior civil servant to become the chairman of Edinburgh airport

Scotland’s former top civil servant is to become chairman of Edinburgh airport when its takeover is completed next month.

The appointment of Sir John Elvidge, who was permanent secretary to the Scottish Government for seven years until his retirement in 2010, was announced yesterday by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), which last month won the auction for the airport with an £807 million bid.

Michael McGhee, the GIP partner leading the acquisition, said: “Our investment in Scotland is a significant one, and we are delighted to have secured Sir John Elvidge to chair the new board of directors.

“Sir John’s knowledge of Scotland will be particularly important as we raise Edinburgh airport’s profile around the world, and build strong relationships in the city and beyond.”

BAA, owned by Spanish conglomerate Ferrovial, put the airport up for sale last year after being ordered to offload either it or Glasgow airport to meet the requirements of a Competition Commission investigation. It sold Gatwick, near London, to GIP for £1.5 billion in 2009.

GIP secured Edinburgh after seeing off a rival offer from JP Morgan Asset Management, believed to be pitched at £735m. Fifty parties expressed an initial interest and four were shortlisted.

Elvidge retired from his £185,000-a-year post as permanent secretary in June 2010, after accruing a pension pot of £1.7m. He received a tax-free payment £225,000, plus an annual pension of £75,000. He takes up his new role on 1 June, subject to approval from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which advises on appointments taken up by former civil servants within two years of them leaving their posts.

He said: “I am excited to be chairing the new board of Edinburgh airport at such an interesting time, when we hope to establish the airport as a highly competitive force that grows and develops in tune with the needs and aspirations of Scotland and its capital city.”

The number of passengers passing through Edinburgh fell for a second month in a row in April, BAA said last week.

Total numbers fell by 1.1 per cent to 767,500 compared with a year ago, while rival Glasgow was up 6.7 per cent to 547,200 and Aberdeen soared 11 per cent to 274,300. BAA blamed the fall on uncertainty over the future of BMI, which was bought last month by International Airlines Group.