The numbers are up 3.1% on 2018 with growth in international passengers driving the increase.
A total of 14,747,830 people travelled through Edinburgh Airport last year, making 2019 the busiest in the airport’s history and the busiest ever year for a Scottish airport.
The numbers are up 3.1% on 2018 with growth in international passengers driving the increase.
The figures follow a rise in passenger numbers for December:
Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport said: “We’re delighted to deliver a record year for any Scottish airport as passengers continued to take advantage of new routes, new airlines and the opportunity to expand their horizons and travel the world."
“We never lose sight of the fact that the airport is a conduit to a whole host of things. We play our part in tourism, business, education, research and culture. We are that gateway to Scotland and to the world, and direct connectivity to countries across the world plays a huge part in that success."
“Clearly, we want to see that success continue to benefit Edinburgh and Scotland and travel will always be a part of that, but we do have a responsibility to manage that success in a sustainable manner. We appreciate that we need to show leadership in this area and we are currently finalising a strategy which will map out our approach to operations at Edinburgh to make them even more sustainable than they already are. We look forward to sharing that strategy and engaging with our communities on it."
“Finally, I would like to thank all staff across campus who worked to make this a record year for Edinburgh Airport. We all play a part in the journey of our passengers and it is that team approach which helps us to deliver the many big days that are experienced at the airport every day.”
Domestic market was -8.9% behind December 2018 due to the following reasons:
- Ryanair cut the Stansted route from October 2019
- Flybe stopped operating East Midlands in October 2019
The negative impact was softened by strong performance on other domestic routes:
- British Airways had more frequencies on Heathrow & Gatwick compared to December 2018
- Loganair started a new route to East Midlands in October 2019
International market recorded a +10.2% YoY growth due strong growth in the short-haul segment. These are the reasons for the traffic growth in more detail:
- Wizz Air started 4 new routes in December 2019 (Budapest, Bucharest, Warsaw & Gdansk)
- Delta increased from 5x weekly to daily service to JFK
- Turkish Airlines increased Istanbul from 5 per week to daily service
- Ryanair started new routes to Luxembourg & Bucharest earlier in the year
- easyJet started a new route to Verona
- Loganair started new routes to Bergen & Stavanger in May 2019
- Lauda started operating a new route to Vienna in October 2019
New routes for 2019 (21 routes: 18 international and 3 domestic):
Mar 2019:
- Loganair to Islay
Apr 2019:
- American Airlines to Philadelphia
- Ryanair to Billund & Luxembourg
May 2019:
- Delta Airlines to Boston
- Jet 2 to Bodrum, Bourgas and Corfu
- Loganair to Bergen, Stavanger & Guernsey
June 2019:
- Alitalia to Milan (both Linate and Malpensa)
- Great Dane Airlines to Aalborg
October 2019:
- Lauda to Vienna
- Loganair to East Midlands
December 2019:
- easyJet to Verona
- Wizz Air to Bucharest, Budapest, Warsaw Chopin & Gdansk
New Routes announced for 2020:
- Rotterdam with Transavia (Feb)
- Birmingham with easyJet (Mar)
- Gibraltar with easyJet (Mar)
- Catania with easyJet (Mar)
- Bydgoszcz with Ryanair (Apr)
- Hannover with Loganair (Apr)
- Izmir with Jet2 (May)
- Esbjerg with Loganair (May)
- Antalya with TUI (May)
- London Southend with Flybe (Jun)
- Sharm el Sheikh with TUI Airways (Nov)
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
