The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Strong start for Scottish hub airports
Scotland’s main airports have enjoyed an increase in passenger numbers.
Edinburgh Airport welcomed more than 956,000 travellers last month, making it the busiest March for a Scottish airport ever with a 4.1% hike in numbers on the same month of 2016.
“We have seen another solid increase in the number of international passengers, which highlights the everincreasing draw of Edinburgh as a global destination,” Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar said.
“An increase in visitors to the city stimulates the economy, creates new jobs and offers direct international links for all of Scotland.”
Glasgow Airport also reported its busiest March, with more than 700,000 passengers travelling through its doors – an increase of 7% on 2016.
International traffic was 13.7% higher and domestic flights were also up on increased demand for London and regional services.
Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said it had been the busiest ever start to the year and she called for tax reliefs to help drive traffic further.
She said: “If the city and Scotland are to continue to attract further visitors and enjoy the associated economic uplift, then it’s important we address the high levels of Air Passenger Duty which put our airports at a severe disadvantage when it comes to competing with our European and global counterparts.”
Aberdeen International Airport saw 247,000 passengers travelling through its doors in March, up 1% compared to the same month of last year.
New routes brought a 4.3% increase in international traffic while domestic passengers rose 2.4%.
Carol Benzie, the airport’s managing director, said: “It was apparent at the end of 2016 that the decline was slowing and whilst it is great to see our passenger figures for March return to growth, we are still operating in what remains an extremely challenging marketplace.”
The hub airport figures follow an update last week from regional airline group HIAL, whose portfolio includes Dundee Airport.
The group posted a full-year increase in passenger numbers of 15.4%, taking the total carried to 1.6m across all of its operations.