SCOTLAND'S two biggest airports have seen passenger numbers soar in March, with Glasgow posting growth for the 25th month in a row and domestic and international traffic up in Edinburgh.
But traffic fell back slightly at Aberdeen Airport following a "modest reduction" in international passenger numbers.
Glasgow Airport said 606,000 travellers passed through its gates in March, a 14 per cent increase on the same month last year. It was the airport's busiest March in seven years, and comes after 510,665 passengers used the airport in February - 13.9 per cent more than in February 2014.
Glasgow highlighted strong demand for flights to European destinations as international passenger numbers grew 22.3 per cent in March to 267,989. British Airways, Flybe and Loganair reported an appetite for services to London and other regional UK destinations as domestic traffic through Glasgow rose 8.2 per cent to 338,128.
A spokesman said the growth was driven by securing new routes alongside a strong underlying performance, as evidenced by the growth in domestic traffic. He said traffic was boosted brought by the Davis Cup tennis matches at the Emirates Arena and the European Atherosclerosis Society Congress, which attracted 2,000 delegates, adding that the World Gymnastic and IPC Swimming championships and Turner Prize will drive numbers as the year progresses.
In March Glasgow launched a new flight to Carcassone in France, a twice daily service to Bournemouth, and restored Virgin Atlantic's direct flight to Florida on the 747 aircraft. Further routes are also in the pipeline, with Flybe introducing a direct flight to Cardiff in June, and Wizz Air to begin serving Budapest, the Hungarian capital, and the Polish city of Lublin from later this summer. In addition, Canada's WestJet will begin a daily service to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Thomas Cook will start flying to Las Vegas next month.
Amanda McMillan, managing director, said: "2015 has got off to a tremendous start and we are continuing to enjoy significant increases in our passenger numbers as a result of our popular and growing list of destinations.
"Our international network continues to grow from strength to strength and over the next three months we will see the launch of a further 13 new routes."
Edinburgh Airport saw a total of 791,975 travellers pass through its doors last month - up 6.8 per cent on last March.
Domestic passenger numbers grew 8.7 per cent to 432,935, driven by Ryanair's new four-time daily service to Stansted. Edinburgh also highlighted the impact of Flybe's new service to London City, which operates four times a day, and the increased frequency of BA Cityflyer's service to the same airport, now running up top 12 times a day.
International passenger numbers at Edinburgh were up 4.7 per cent on March last year at 359,040.The figures were boosted by increased services to Dublin, Barcelona and Rome with Ryanair, a new twice weekly service to Madeira with easyJet, which has also increased services to Lisbon and Reykjavik. Recent services introduced by the airport include routes to the Faroe Islands with Atlantic Airways, Malaga with Norwegian, Copenhagen with SAS and Madrid with Iberia Express.
Gordon Dewar, chief executive, said: "March was a strong month for us and we saw a significant increase in the number of passengers travelling through our airport."
Aberdeen Airport said 284,755 passengers passed through its gates in March, down 1.5 per cent last year. Helicopter traffic grew 3.1 per cent and domestic travel was up 0.8 per cent, offset by a "minor reduction" in international traffic.
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