Airports Record Passenger Increase

Scotland's main airports have started the year with an increase in passenger numbers, according to the latest figures.

Glasgow Airport saw passenger numbers go up in January after 485,685 people travelled through its doors - an 11.4% jump on the previous year.

International traffic grew by 18.1% while domestic travel was up 6.6%.

The airport had also recorded a busy 2014, with more than 7.7 million passengers in 12 months - up 4.8%.

Amanda McMillan, managing director, said: It was always going to be a challenge to follow 2014's performance but we have managed to continue where we left off and record yet another month of growth.

January is traditionally a quiet period but we experienced a marked increase in demand for international travel, particularly to some of the European destinations we have added in recent months including Wroclaw and Katowice.''

A total of 628,285 people travelled through Edinburgh Airport in January, a rise of 7% on the same month last year. Bosses said rises in both domestic and international traffic were thanks to a number of new routes including an increase in the daily services to London airports.

The new figures follow a record-breaking year for the airport after it handled more than 10 million passengers in 2014.

Gordon Dewar, the airport's chief executive, said: We saw a great performance from our new domestic services last month, with more new routes launching this spring, and are continuing to develop our facilities for passengers and airlines. The next few months will be an exciting time for our airport.''

Aberdeen Airport's passenger numbers last month were up slightly amid challenging weather conditions.

The airport said there was a 0.5% increase on the same month last year as it saw 252,561 people passing through the terminal.

Carol Benzie, managing director, said: We are delighted to see passenger numbers holding strong despite testing weather conditions throughout January, including high winds, snow and ice.

Historically January is one of the quietest months of the year for us following the peak of December's holiday season and we are pleased to report a sustained increase.''

The figures released today come after Scotland's 11 regional airports including Inverness, Sumburgh and Barra, revealed they handled a record 1.4 million passengers last year.