Edinburgh consolidates lead over Glasgow
14.02.08
Edinburgh Airport consolidated its lead in passenger numbers carried over its main Scottish rival, Glasgow, last month. Figures released by BAA show that its busy international routes are drawing in record passenger numbers, whilst passengers on Glasgow's mostly leisure routes dropped significantly.
Edinburgh enjoyed a 3.9% passenger growth in January, with 588,243 people travelling through the airport. International traffic grew by more than 26 percent, with significant growth on routes to Prague, Paris and Geneva. The airport's performance is all the more extraordinary given January's bad weather and the crash landing at Heathrow, which BAA identified as the reasons for a combined 1.7% drop in passengers at its three Scottish airports compared to last year.
Glasgow suffered a particularly bad January, as a 14.4% seasonal downturn in charter flights - the airport's traditional mainstay - contributed to a drop in passenger numbers of 6.1%. BAA warned that the declining international charter market would continue to hit passenger numbers in Glasgow, with the airport expected to see slow demand until the second half of 2008.
In the 12 months to the end of January, Edinburgh saw 300,000 more customers than Glasgow Airport, and broke the nine million mark. It was one of only two of BAA's seven UK airports to record growth in January. Gatwick also increased, whilst Aberdeen, Heathrow, Stansted and Southampton - along with Glasgow - all experiencing a drop.
David Johnston, Edinburgh Airport's managing director, said: 'These figures kick off what we expect to be a very dynamic and exciting year at the airport. Already this year, 14 new routes to destinations in the USA, France, Germany, Greece and the Czech Republic have been announced. We are expecting further new routes in coming months.'
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