9am Briefing: Airport figures soar

EDINBURGH Airport experienced its best-ever passenger figures last month following the addition of 26 routes this year.

The 873,200 passengers recorded during September marked a 2.2 per cent increase on a year earlier.

New destinations, including Helsinki and Marrakech, helped to boost the numbers using the city airport.

However, the impact of the Icelandic volcano ash cloud, British Airways cabin crew strikes and the demise of Flyglobespan means the year-to-date figure is still 5 per cent down on last year.

• THE CAPITAL has slid down an influential ranking of the economic prospects for more than 100 European cities.

Edinburgh fell 11 places to 59 on LaSalle Investment Management's annual European Regional Economic Growth Index (E-Regi) report.

The city's fortunes were hit hard by the banking crisis, particularly the loss of the headquarters of HBOS.

Despite the slip, Edinburgh was still ranked higher than in 2005 when it hit a low of 63 on the rank of 104 cities.

• VOLUNTEERS representing the Lothians were due to fly off to Delhi today to take part in the closing ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Some 350 participants from all over Scotland have been honing their dance moves to take part in the handover ceremony in Delhi, when the 2010 host nation will hand over to Glasgow.

Months of anticipation, preparation and hard work are coming to fruition for the volunteer cast members from the Lothians who will take part in an eight-minute performance in front of 60,000 spectators at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.