Busiest-Ever April For Scotland's Biggest Airports

Scotland's two biggest airports experienced their busiest-ever April last month, with many people travelling over the Easter break.

Almost 930,000 passed through Edinburgh Airport, up 10.2% on last year, and 665,000 passengers used Glasgow Airport, a 15.4% increase on April 2014.

An increase in flights to London from Edinburgh and a series of long-haul services at Glasgow have been suggested as reasons for the growth.

Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: Our passenger numbers have continued to rise each month of 2015 and last month was our busiest April on record.

We've seen strong performances on both domestic and international routes, with London doing particularly well.

A number of new routes have also launched since April last year, including Madrid with Iberia Express, Malaga with Norwegian and Copenhagen with SAS.''

Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said: We have enjoyed double-digit growth in our passenger numbers for six consecutive months, but to have recorded our busiest April ever is hugely encouraging.

There certainly appears to be a renewed confidence amongst passengers and airlines alike, and with the launch of nine new services, including direct flights to Prague and Halifax, Nova Scotia, May promises to be yet another busy month.''

More than 300,000 passengers passed through Aberdeen Airport last month, a fall of 2.9% on the previous year.

Bosses believe it is down to conditions in the oil and gas sector with regular helicopter flights leaving from the airport to offshore platforms.

Managing director Carol Benzie said: We have seen a modest decrease on previous passenger levels for April, which is possibly due to a tightening-up on travel policies as a result of the current economic climate within the oil and gas sector.

We are currently preparing for our busy summer schedule with daily flights to popular holiday destinations, including some of the newest additions to our route network to Faro and Verona.''