BIGGER aircraft and 25 new routes have helped Edinburgh Airport to become the busiest ever in Scotland, it was revealed yesterday.
The airport handled more than 1.5 million passengers in July, the highest monthly figure on record in the country.
That July figure showed a 6.3 per cent increase on the same month last year, with the airport reporting growth in both domestic and international passengers.
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The record has been set at a time when the airport has been consulting with residents all around it over proposed changes to aircraft flight paths
Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport chief executive, said: “These are fantastic figures for the airport, for Edinburgh and for Scotland, and they show an increase in passenger demand of 60 per cent over the past 5 years – that is phenomenal growth and easily makes us one of Europe’s fasting growing airports.
“That growth is something we should be proud of as it delivers wide-ranging benefits for the country through job creation, tourism spend and business growth, but it also means we need to keep growing our infrastructure and build that additional capacity to cater for those increased numbers.
“We have invested huge sums already to keep up with that demand and are now for the first time in a position where we’re ahead of that curve thanks to a terminal expansion which will see us grow our passenger capacity to more than 17m.
“That headroom is welcome and is a position we want to stay in and aim to do so through continued investment,” he added.
“Part of that wider picture is the need for improvements to the external infrastructure as well and that is an ongoing discussion with various partners as we must change and grow to maximise the opportunities that the airport brings.
“This extension is the beginning of a longer period of investment in our airport. Growth is our main strategic challenge and we will develop in order to enable growth for Edinburgh and Scotland as a whole.”
Not everyone was impressed by the new record, however. Dr Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth Scotland, told the BBC: “This isn’t good news if you’re worried about pollution. If you’re worried about climate change then flights are a big problem.
“If you’re worried about local pollution then the traffic around the airport and the noise from the planes are serious issues for people nearby.”
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