Capital defies Scots air passenger trend

SNOW and the collapse of Flyglobespan hit passenger figures at Scotland's three main airports last month – and also ended eight months of growth at Edinburgh.

The capital's airport handled 580,100 travellers in December – 4.4 per cent fewer than a year ago. However, Glasgow's decline continued, with its total down by 8.8 per cent to 424,800.

Aberdeen, which was worst affected by snowfalls and several runway closures, was down by 9.4 per cent to 215,100.

But Edinburgh is now heading for a lead of two million passengers over Glasgow – with its annual total up 0.6 per cent to more than nine million.

The west coast airport was down by 11.3 per cent in 2009 to 7.2 million, with Aberdeen falling by 9.4 per cent to three million.

BAA, which runs the airports along with Heathrow, Stansted and Southampton, said the wintry weather had cut passenger numbers by an estimated 1.9 per cent.

Scottish airline Flyglobespan collapsed on 16 December, hitting the winter sun holiday plans of thousands of passengers.

The Association of British Travel Agents welcomed Edinburgh's 2009 increase and said Glasgow and Aberdeen's fall had been expected.

Spokesman Sean Tipton, said: "That's actually in line with the market. If you look across the board with tourism, it has been 10 per cent down this year, which is inevitable in a recession.

"But with Edinburgh, that is great news."

BAA's chief executive, Colin Matthews, said: "2009 was a difficult year for our airline customers. Towards the end of the year, we saw signs of improvements, particularly at Heathrow, but there are more challenging times ahead in 2010."