BUDGET airline Ryanair provided a major boost to Glasgow Airport in November, the latest passenger figures have revealed.

Glasgow Airport said yesterday that its passenger numbers totalled 574,380 in November, up by 11.8 per cent on the same month of last year. This represented its busiest November in seven years.

Ryanair launched its new base at Glasgow Airport on October 26, with seven routes initially and a further two planned for next summer. These routes benefited Glasgow Airport in terms of both its international and domestic passenger numbers last month.

International passenger numbers in November were up by 18.3 per cent on the same month of last year. And Glasgow Airport achieved 7.7 per cent year-on-year growth in domestic passengers in November.

Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said: "November was an exceptionally busy month and it was our success in securing new routes that enabled us to record double-digit (percentage) growth."

Edinburgh Airport said yesterday that 707,067 people travelled through its terminal last month, 3.1 per cent more than in November 2013.

Domestic passenger numbers at Edinburgh showed a 4.3 per cent year-on-year rise in November. International passenger numbers in November were up 1.4 per cent on the same month of last year.

Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: "We're expecting about 130,000 passengers to travel through our airport during the Christmas week alone and we're confident that we'll hit our 10 million passenger mark for a calendar year around about this time as well."

Aberdeen Airport said yesterday that its passenger numbers had totalled 299,223 in November, up by 4.3 per cent on the same month of last year.

Carol Benzie, managing director of Aberdeen Airport, said: "I am delighted to look back over 2014 and see growth across the board in every month."