A drop in passenger numbers at Edinburgh Airport has accelerated, new figures show.
The airport has cited falling domestic travellers, particularly after a service to London Stansted was axed, as driving the reduction.
A total of 1,000,246 passengers used the airport last month, down 4.3 per cent on the same month last year.
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It marks the second consecutive month of falling passengers numbers, following five years of growth excepting a marginal 0.1% drop caused by the Beast from the East in March 2018.
In October, passengers number were 1,309,170, a one per cent dip compared to the same month the previous year.
Domestic passengers were down 13.5 per cent last month to 411,819 compared to the previous year, while international travellers were up 3.3 per cent to 588,427.
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The airport said Ryanair scrapping its London Stansted service had led to a 48,000 reduction in passengers but this impact was softened by a strong performance on other domestic routes, including increased services to Heathrow and a new route to the East Midlands.
Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport chief executive, said: “We’re on course for another record year at Edinburgh Airport and we welcome that but there’s always a disappointment that we haven’t been able to share Edinburgh and Scotland with more tourists.
“The end of one of our most popular domestic routes has clearly had an impact and the winter season always sees a small reduction in services so these numbers are not unexpected but it does show that the industry requires support to address the connectivity deficit that Scotland has.”
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