Edinburgh Airport enjoys busiest April on record with 10% passenger boost
With huge surge in numbers, airport calls on passengers to be prepared for security
Edinburgh Airport enjoyed its busiest April ever last month with the number of passengers travelling through the terminal rising by over 10% compared to April 2014.
A total of 928,329 people landed and departed from Edinburgh Airport last month, an increase of 10.2% on the previous year.
Domestic passenger numbers rose by 11.2% in April with 432,820 passengers travelling through the terminal. International passenger traffic also rose significantly with 495,509 passengers travelling. This is an increase of 9.4% on April 2014.
London services helped drive the rise in domestic passenger traffic with Ryanair flying to Stansted up to four times per day and Flybe flying to London City up to six times per day. A strong performance from BA Cityflyer’s London City service, now flying up to 12 times daily, also boosted April passenger numbers.
The 9.4% increase in international passenger figures was driven by increased numbers of flights to Dublin, Barcelona and Corfu with Ryanair. After launching in February, the new twice weekly service to Madeira with easyJet continues to perform well, as well as the airline’s increased number of services to Naples, Lisbon, Prague and Copenhagen.
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.
“With summer just around the corner it’s vital that passengers are prepared for security so we’re calling on everyone travelling to be prepared. You can do this easily and save time by ensuring all liquids, gels and pastes are 100ml or less and are presented in a clear plastic bag outside your hand luggage. Electronic items, like iPads and laptops, should also be presented outside their carriers for inspection. Remember you can take larger bottles in checked-in hold baggage.
“We know that over the last few months there have been incidents where our security process has taken longer than we would like. We’ve been working hard to resolve this and our analysis has shown that by being prepared means passengers will be able to pass through security in the quickest time possible.
“It’s a busy time for us as we prepare for the arrival of Etihad in June and have just welcomed the launch of American Airlines’ new service to JFK in New York. We’re expecting both of these new long haul routes to be very popular with customers.”
The moving annual total for the year ending 30 April was 10,436,415.