EDINBURGH Airport has enjoyed its busiest-ever October - the seventh consecutive month in which its passenger numbers have exceeded one million.

The airport said yesterday that it had handled 1,129,720 passengers last month, up 12.5 per cent on October 2015.

The increase was driven by a 23.6 per cent year-on-year jump in international passenger numbers, to 676,397 last month.

Edinburgh Airport’s domestic passenger numbers in October, at 453,323, were down by 0.9 per cent on the same month of last year.

Glasgow Airport is today expected to unveil its busiest October on record.

Edinburgh Airport yesterday highlighted its success in winning a raft of new international routes.

It noted Jet2 had launched 11 new routes from Edinburgh in 2016 including Kefalonia, Rhodes, Larnaca, Zakynthos, and Vienna. Among other new services, Finnair launched Helsinki flights in April.

Edinburgh Airport also cited growth in passenger numbers on Ryanair flights to Barcelona and Dublin, easyJet’s Berlin, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Milan Malpensa, Amsterdam and Madrid routes, Jet2’s services to Malaga, Alicante and Faro, and Brussels Airlines’ flights to the Belgian capital.

Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: “These latest passenger figures are a direct result of the growth in passenger services offering choice of routes to and from Edinburgh. This growth benefits the economy of Edinburgh, the Lothians and all of Scotland.”