Record growth continues at Scotland's busiest airports

Scotland's busiest airports continued record growth last month.

More than one million passengers passed through Edinburgh Airport in October - a 10% increase on last year and the sixth consecutive month above the milestone figure.

Glasgow Airport reported its busiest October in eight years with more than 830,000 passengers, a 14% increase on the same month last year.

Flights to London and increased international destinations were highlighted as reasons for the growth at both airports.

Management at Edinburgh Airport said flights to New York and Dubai had been particularly popular, while the World Gymnastics Championships and Turner Prize exhibition brought people to Glasgow.

Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: This record-breaking performance is a sure sign of the growing success of both Scotland and Edinburgh as a destination and also emphasises our position as a key driver for Scotland's economic growth.

With over one million passengers through our doors at Edinburgh Airport last month we reached similar levels as we did in July 2013 - the height of our summer peak season. It shows that we are continuing to grow, create jobs and make a positive contribution for Scotland's economy.

Edinburgh Airport is going from strength to strength with more airlines and greater choice of routes to London,the rest of the UK, Europe and across the globe - and we are well on course to make 2015 our busiest year ever.''

International traffic at Glasgow grew by 18.5% last month with long haul services to Toronto, Florida and Dubai popular.

Glasgow was also crowned UK Airport of the Year at the National Transport Awards in London last month.

Managing director Amanda McMillan said: It's been another fantastic month for the airport in terms of passenger growth and route development, but being crowned UK Airport of the Year was the real highlight.

We have now enjoyed 11 consecutive months of double digit growth and have added an additional one million passengers since October 2014, which is a huge milestone.

This month was very exciting for the city as it hosted a series of major international events including the World Gymnastics Championships at the Hydro and the Turner Prize at the Tramway.

There is plenty more still to come before the end of the year, and next month we will see easyJet launch a new route to Milan, British Airways start a service to Salzburg and Blue Air and Wizz Air both begin new services to Bucharest.''