Scottish airports buck UK trend with increased traffic

PASSENGER numbers at Scotland’s busiest airport have fallen for a third consecutive month, with the 1.9 per cent drop in Edinburgh in September contrasting with a 3.1 per increase for rivals Glasgow.

Edinburgh, which handles 9 million passengers a year, said it was still suffering from uncertainty created by the sale of BMI to British Airways’ parent firm.

However, it said international traffic was up despite a continuing row over charges with Ryanair, which has threatened to cut more routes.

BAA, which runs Glasgow airport, sold Edinburgh in June to Gatwick airport owner GIP after being forced to offload one following a Competition Commission investigation.

Glasgow, which has 7m annual passengers, said it had been boosted by increased holiday traffic such as to the Canaries, Balearic islands, Florida and Dubai - which is a major hub for passengers en route to Asia and Australia.

Amanda McMillan, its managing director, said: “The addition of new services, including Emirates’ second daily flight to Dubai and Sunwing’s twice weekly service to Toronto, coupled with the decision by a number of airlines to add extra capacity, meant we were able to continue our pattern of growth.”