Edinburgh and Glasgow airports continue to soar as Aberdeen stalls

Newly released data has seen Edinburgh Airport report its busiest ever month.

The capital air hub saw more than 1.2 million passengers travelling through its terminal during July, with international passengers up year-on-year by 10.2 per cent.

Domestic passengers rose by 10.6 per cent.

Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: “It was only two years ago, we our first million-passenger month and now … we have grown by 20 per cent. This is really pleasing, but it’s clear we’re going to have to invest further for next year as we anticipate more growth.”

He added: “We’re predicting August will be good for us too. It is always an exciting month in Edinburgh with more people visiting … for the big festivals.”

Glasgow too enjoyed a highly-successful month, registering its busiest July for seven years.

Glasgow Airport saw 956,483 passengers pass through it, a rise of 13.7 per cent.

It was the airport’s ninth consecutive month of double-digit growth.

International traffic grew by 15.3 per cent, while domestic numbers grew by 11.4 per cent.

Last month, both airports recorded their busiest June on record for passenger traffic.

Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said: “Not only did we welcome close to one million passengers in July, we were also classified as one of the fastest-growing airports in Europe for the first half of 2015. Both of these factors underscore the significance of our exceptional growth this year.”

Aberdeen Airport reported a mixed set of figures last month, as 348,527 passengers travelled through its terminal.

Domestic travel was down by 5.9 per cent, while international passenger figures showed an increase of 1.8 per cent on last year.

Helicopter traffic remained below 2014 levels, and was down by 14.8 per cent for the month.

Carol Benzie, managing director of Aberdeen Airport, said: “We report a mixed set of figures this month. We are pleased to see an increase in international traffic on 2014 levels. However, domestic and helicopter traffic is trending below those levels, as we continue in the current challenging period for the energy sector.”

Yesterday a survey published by accountancy firm BDO revealed that Aberdeen hotels experienced a sharp year-on-year fall in occupancy and revenues in May.