Edinburgh airport growth stalls following Ryanair route withdrawal

The route connecting the Scottish capital with Stansted ended at the start of October following a rethink by the airline.

Edinburgh airport chief executive Gordon Dewar said the decision to do so resulted in 48,000 fewer passengers using the airport in November, bringing the total to 1,000,246.

He added the airport had been further impacted by airlines introducing their winter schedules, which typically feature fewer flights.

Dewar said the impact of the Ryanair route loss was dissipated by strong performances elsewhere in the domestic market with British Airways growing frequencies on its Heathrow connection while Loganair launched a new route to East Midlands.

The international market also saw year-on-year growth of 3.3% in November thanks to new routes introduced by Lufthansa, Loganair, Lauda and Ryanair while Delta Air Lines increased its JFK service.

Dewar said: “We’re on course for another record year at Edinburgh airport, and we welcome that but there’s always a disappointment that we haven’t been able to share Edinburgh and Scotland with more tourists.

“The end of one of our most popular domestic routes has clearly had an impact and the winter season always sees a small reduction in services so these numbers are not unexpected, but it does show that the industry requires support to address the connectivity deficit that Scotland has.”