Passenger numbers at Scotland’s two biggest airports soar to record heights

Scotland’s two main airports have both recorded their busiest October on record.

More than 1.2 million passengers used Edinburgh Airport last month, while more than 928,000 people passed through Glasgow Airport’s doors.

Edinburgh Airport chiefs said it was the seventh consecutive month where more than one million passengers had used the hub.

A total of 1,226,109 people went through the terminal’s doors in October – an 8.5 per cent increase on the same month last year. Internation- al passengers were up 12.4 per cent.

Chief executive Gordon Dewar said: “It may have been Halloween in October, but passengers weren’t scared to travel, with Edinburgh Airport recording another record month and the seventh consecutive month of more than one million people coming through the terminal.”

The passenger numbers for Glasgow Airport climbed 5 per cent on the same month in 2016.

European Union scheduled services rose 16 per cent compared to the same period last year thanks to additional capacity and strong demand on a number of city break routes, including Milan, Valencia and Lisbon.

International traffic rose 9.5 per cent on last year’s figure.

Celtic’s Champions League home-and-away double header against Bayern Munich also boosted October’s passenger numbers.

Aberdeen International Airport also experienced a boost last month. A total of 284,456 passengers used the terminal, up 4.4 per cent year on year.

The figures were the sixth consecutive month where both domestic and international fixed-wing traffic saw consecutive increases. Helicopter passenger numbers dipped by 3.4 per cent.