A record number of passengers passed through Edinburgh Airport last year as it reported a 3.1% annual increase.
The hub had a total of 14,747,830 arrivals and departures last year, making 2019 the busiest ever year for a Scottish airport. A 5.3% growth in international passengers to 9,409,319 drove the increase, making up for a 0.7% fall in domestic traffic to 5,338,511.
Domestic numbers for December were down 8.9% year on year which was blamed on Ryanair cutting its Stansted route and Flybe axing its East Midlands services in October. But international traffic was up 10.2% to 652,647, helped by new services including Wizz Air’s services to Budapest, Bucharest, Warsaw & Gdansk.
Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: “We’re delighted to deliver a record year for any Scottish airport as passengers continued to take advantage of new routes, new airlines and the opportunity to expand their horizons and travel the world.
“We never lose sight of the fact that the airport is a conduit to a whole host of things. We play our part in tourism, business, education, research and culture. We are that gateway to Scotland and to the world, and direct connectivity to countries across the world plays a huge part in that success.
“Clearly, we want to see that success continue to benefit Edinburgh and Scotland and travel will always be a part of that, but we do have a responsibility to manage that success in a sustainable manner. We appreciate that we need to show leadership in this area and we are currently finalising a strategy which will map out our approach to operations at Edinburgh to make them even more sustainable than they already are. We look forward to sharing that strategy and engaging with our communities on it.”
