Passenger number boost for two of Scotland's busiest airports

Passenger rise: Success down to energy industry traffic and extra routes.

Passenger numbers at two of BAA's Scottish airports rose last month, according to new figures.

Aberdeen saw the biggest boost with an 11% increase in April 2012 compared to the same month in 2011. The airport handled 274,300 passengers during the month.

BAA said the rise reflected the strength in traffic related to the energy industry.

Derek Provan, Aberdeen Airport managing director, said: "I am pleased to report growth in the passenger numbers for Aberdeen airport during the month of April.

"It marks the beginning of the summer flying season and these latest figures represent a fantastic start to our summer programme."

Glasgow Airport also saw a rise, with a 6.7% increase on the same month the previous year. The facility handled 547,200 passengers in April.

However, Edinburgh Airport, which is to be sold to Global Infrastructure Partners for £807.2m, saw a 1.1% drop to 767,500 passengers in April.

BAA said that an rise in demand for both international and domestic travel helped drive the increase.

Amanda McMillan, managing director of Glasgow Airport, said: "Despite the challenges presented by rising fuel costs and further increases in air passenger duty (APD), we have enjoyed considerable success in expanding our route network and this has been a major factor in encouraging more people to fly from Glasgow airport.

"April's figures were extremely encouraging and with a number of services such as Canadian Affair's direct flights to Vancouver and Calgary, and US Airways' Philadelphia route getting under way in May, we hope to maintain this pattern of growth.

"We also have the launch on June 1 of Emirates Airline's second daily service to Dubai to look forward to, which will play a vital role in further enhancing Scotland's connectivity with important global markets."

An Edinburgh Airport spokesman said various factors were involved in the drop.

He said: "The month has been characterised by good performances in some areas and not so good in other areas.

"The domestic market, excluding London flights which were up, were slightly down maybe because of uncertainty due to BMI.

"European traffic was slightly down due to Ryanair`s winter schedule."

BAA has to sell off Edinburgh Airport following a ruling by the Competition Commission.

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