News: Edinburgh overtakes Glasgow for December Flights
Flights > News > # 691 (12/01/2006)
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Edinburgh Airport has pipped neighbouring Glasgow to become Scotland’s busiest during the month of December, handling 598,573 passengers, compared to 536,639 at Glasgow - a rise of 3.5% on the previous year. International passenger numbers grew by 17.3%, with Prague, Hamburg and Amsterdam being the fastest growing destinations. Passenger numbers on flights to and from New York were also substantially higher than the previous year. On the domestic front, Norwich, Birmingham and Manchester were the best performing routes.
The traditional Christmas getaway saw passenger numbers at Scotland’s busiest airports reach a new December high, boosted further by the popularity of Edinburgh as a destination for new year celebrations. Figures released by the airport operator BAA Scotland show that Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen Airports handled 1.36 million passengers between them in December, a rise of 3.9% on the previous year.
Over the course of 2005, BAA Scotland’s three airports handled 20.1 million passengers, a rise of 4.6% on 2004. Domestic traffic grew by 3% through the year, while international traffic rose 7%. In December, the growth in international traffic was even more substantial, up 14.1% on the previous year, as thousands of Scots took off for their winter break, and thousands more arrived in Scotland to celebrate the festive season.
Out of BAA's three airports in Scotland, Aberdeen has been the fastest growing, with passenger numbers up to 2.8 million passengers for the year, a rise of 8.4% on 2004. International traffic from Aberdeen has grown by 28.2%, with flights to Paris, Bergen and Copenhagen enjoying the strongest growth.
Stephen Baxter, BAA Scotland’s new managing director said:
“International travel is more popular today than ever before, and December’s traffic figures bear this out. Every one of our three airports recorded strong growth in international traffic, reflecting the increasing popularity of our expanding network of international routes. With new services to destinations across Europe, North Africa and the United States, we expect to see further growth in 2006.
We will invest to meet that growth because we want our passengers to enjoy the very best facilities and the highest standard of service. Major development programmes are underway at each of our airports which, when complete, will not only increase capacity, but provide a more relaxing and enjoyable experience for our growing number of passengers.”
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