Busiest August on record

A total of 1,480,651 passengers passed through Edinburgh Airport last month – but growth has continued to slow despite the busy summer season.

Although it’s the airport’s busiest August on record, growth is only up 0.5% on the same month last year when passenger growth was up by 4.9%. It follows a slowdown in July’s growth - up 0.4% but down from 6.3% in July 2018.

Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport said:

“Again we welcome the growth we’ve seen over the past month and almost 1.5 million people shows there is a strong draw to Edinburgh during the summer season. Our festivals are world renowned and they attract many people to Edinburgh, something which enriches our city and provides economic benefits for the local and national economy.

“It’s important that we work to support the tourism sector as it is of huge benefit to Scotland’s economy and that support has to be nationwide as all parts of our country have a part to play in our offering to those visitors who want to come here. We also need to be promoting Scotland as a destination to as many nations as we can as too narrow a focus will see us losing potential visitors and connections, something that is already difficult enough when competing with nations that don’t have to factor in the highest aviation tax in the world.

“We know Air Departure Tax now won’t be delivered in its promised form and that will have an impact on growth at the airport as well as on the economy in general but we need to find alternate options to improve connectivity and support our exports and tourism sector. We believe Scotland’s aviation industry has the innovation and leadership to shape a sustainable future our tourism sector but leadership only works when it persuades others around the world to follow. We’re engaging with the Scottish Government to form a plan which will attract new airlines and passengers as well as play a positive role in addressing the climate challenge.”