Nostalgia: Get back... to the airport

IT’S the time of year when residents are jetting off on their holidays.

The Beatles arrive at Turnhouse in 1964. Beatles fans wait at the airport.

With the poor summer we’ve had this year, many are seeking sunnier climes to get a much-needed vitamin D injection.

In fact, Edinburgh Airport witnessed its busiest ever July this year, with 1.2 million passengers.

The number of travellers passing through the terminal increased by 10.3 per cent in July compared with last year.

Passengers at the British Airways check-in desk at Edinburgh Airport in 1989

The extra passengers included golf fans heading for the Open at St Andrews. The increase also came after Ryanair restored its Stansted services and more frequent British Airways and Flybe flights to London City were added.

The extra travellers have been a struggle for the airport to deal with due to ongoing issues as a result of the troubled new £25 million security hall.

It’s always stressful for passengers when there are huge delays or queues in the airport when all they want to do is board their flight and begin their trip.

Industrial action by British Airways cabin crew forced the airline to cancel all to and from London shuttles in August 1989, to the frustration of passengers waiting at the check-in desk.

The first customers for Cosmos package holiday flights from Edinburgh board the DAN-AIR plane in May 1976.

But it was all smiles – and shrieks – amongst Beatles fans in October 1964.

Screaming women were in their element waiting at the airport to catch a glimpse of their idols.

Another arrival at the airport drew in the crowds in June 1982, when Pope John Paul II arrived in the Capital.

He carried out his traditional kissing of the tarmac as onlookers watched.