EDINBURGH Airport achieved another solid year-on-year rise in passenger numbers in April, boosted by international traffic as domestic business showed a dip, the latest monthly figures have revealed.
The airport said that its passenger numbers had totalled 1,009,529 last month, up by 8.7 per cent on April 2015.
Its international passenger numbers in April totalled 586,293, up by 18.4 per cent on the same month of last year.
However, domestic passenger numbers, at 422,323 last month, were down by 2.2 per cent on April 2015.
A spokesman for the airport noted that the year-on-year fall in domestic passenger numbers reflected the fact that Edinburgh still had Virgin’s Little Red services between Edinburgh and London last April. These services ended last autumn.
He added that Edinburgh Airport’s domestic passenger numbers, while down year-on-year in April, were ahead of budget.
The spokesman meanwhile highlighted year-on-year growth in passenger numbers across European routes, noting generally higher passenger load factors on such services. He also flagged solid demand for flights to and from the Middle East.
Asked what had driven the growth in international passenger numbers, he replied: “Broadly, it is European traffic that is boosting international. We are busy across all of those routes. We are seeing strong performance in the Middle East as well, but a lot of it is Europe.”
Edinburgh Airport said its strong growth in international passenger numbers was being fuelled by the wide choice of destinations served, from European cities such as Berlin, Madrid and Stuttgart, to Doha and Abu Dhabi in the Middle East.
It added that its US services continued to perform strongly.
Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar highlighted his ambitions for further significant expansion.
He said: “The airport is an increasingly important social and economic asset, providing 23,000 jobs and [annual] economic output of around £1 billion.
“We look forward to working with others, in the city and in the Scottish Government and elsewhere, to build a sustainable, long-term plan for the future of this airport, potentially doubling the number of jobs here in the next few years.”
Mr Dewar also underlined his determination to continue campaigning for a major reduction in air passenger duty.
He said: “We will continue to advocate a halving of air passenger duty. It is a punitive tax on travel that restricts Scotland’s progress and punishes those who can least afford it.”
Glasgow Airport is due to report its April passenger numbers this week.
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