Edinburgh Airport

Early years

Turnhouse Aerodrome was the northernmost British air defence base in World War I used by the Royal Flying Corps. The small base opened in 1916^[7] and it was used to house the 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron from 1925, which consisted of DH 9As, Westland Wapitis, Hawker Harts, and Hawker Hind light bombers. All the aircraft used a grass airstrip.

In 1918, the Royal Air Force was formed and the airfield was named RAF Turnhouse and ownership was transferred to the Air Ministry.

When the Second World War broke out, RAF Fighter Command took control over the airfield and a runway of 3,900 ft (1,189 m) was paved to handle the Supermarine Spitfire. During the Battle of Britain, 3, 65, and 141 Squadrons were present at the airbase.

Post-Second World War

When the war ended, the airfield remained under military control. It was officially opened for commercial traffic on 19 May 1947. The first commercial flight to use the airport was a British European Airways service from London (Northolt) to Shetland, with Edinburgh and Aberdeen being intermediate stopping points. The aircraft was an 18-seat Douglas C47.^[8]

In 1952, the runway was extended to 6000 ft to handle the Vampire FB5s operated by the resident 603 Squadron, and an aircraft arresting barrier net was installed to protect traffic on the adjacent A9 road.^{[citation needed]} The net remained in place until the early 1970s and was used to stop one of the Ferranti Flying Unit Buccaneers which had overrun the runway. A further use was in 1970 when a Meteor TT20, operated by the RN Fleet Requirement Unit, overran the runway and ended up in the net. In 1956, a new passenger terminal was built to provide an improved commercial service; five years later it was extended.^{[citation needed]} After the disbandment of the 603 Squadron in March 1957, the Air Ministry transferred ownership to the Ministry of Aviation in 1960 to offer improved commercial service to the airport. Flying was temporarily diverted to East Fortune, which had its runway extended to accommodate the airliners of the period.^{[citation needed]}

BAA ownership

The British Airports Authority (BAA) took over ownership of the airport on 1 April 1971 at a time when the original terminal building was running at about eight times its design capacity. Immediate improvements to the terminal were cosmetic, such as extra seating and TV monitors for flight information, and it took two years for plans to be proposed for a completely new terminal and runway redesign. Public consultation on planning started in November 1971 and ended in February 1972. The initial stages of the redevelopment began in June 1973; they included a diversion of the River Almond. Work on the new terminal building, designed by Sir Robert Matthew, started in March 1975, and the building was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 27 May 1977,^[9] opening to the public two days later.

Although the original main runway 13/31 (which is now 12/30) served the airport well, its alignment (NW-SE) had the disadvantage of suffering from severe crosswinds, and the other two minor runways were very short and could not be readily extended, so movements were transferred to a new runway (07/25, which has since become 06/24) in an addition completely outside the original airfield boundary. This runway, completed in 1977, is 2,556 m (8,386 ft) in length, and was able to take all modern airliners including Concorde. A new terminal was built alongside the runway to cater for the additional traffic. The old terminal and hangars were converted into a cargo centre.

International service from Edinburgh began in 1962 with direct service to Dublin, but for many years international flights were charter and private only. This started to change during the late 1970s, with direct services to continental Europe (Amsterdam, 1975). By the mid-1980s direct routes included Paris, Düsseldorf, Brussels, Frankfurt and Copenhagen, but direct transatlantic flights were not yet possible as Glasgow-Prestwick was the only "designated gateway" in Scotland under the US-UK Bermuda II Agreement.^[10] By the time BAA had been privatised in 1987, Edinburgh Airport handled over 1.8 million passengers each year; compared to the 681,000 passengers handled in 1971 when BAA first took control of the airport.^[11]

RAF Turnhouse was operational near the passenger terminal of the airport for all of the post-war period but was finally closed in 1997.^[12]

Since the original terminal upgrade in 1977, there have been major reconstructions, including extensions of the two passenger terminal aprons and a major expansion of car parking facilities, including a multi-storey car park in 2004. In 2005, a new 57-metre-tall (187 ft) air traffic control tower was completed for £10m. An extension to the terminal called the South East Pier opened in September 2006. This extension initially added six gates on a new pier to the southeast of the original building. A further four gates were added to the South East Pier at the end of 2008.

On 19 October 2011, BAA Limited announced its intention to sell the airport, following a decision by the UK's Competition Commission requiring BAA to sell either Glasgow Airport or Edinburgh Airport.^[13] BAA announced on 23 April 2012 that it had sold Edinburgh Airport to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for a price of £807.2 million, equivalent to £1204 million in 2023.^[14]

GIP ownership

In 2013, a further extension to the passenger terminal was announced, taking the terminal building up to the Edinburgh Airport tram stop. The Edinburgh Trams opening in May 2014 created the first rail connection to Edinburgh Airport. Whilst the number of passengers has increased, the number of flights decreased in 2014 due to planes operating at a higher capacity.^[15] Passenger traffic at Edinburgh Airport reached a record level in 2015 with over 11.1 million passengers^[16] and over 109,000 aircraft movements.^[2]

The terminal building was expanded as a result of an investment of £40million. A new £25million expansion project involving the construction of a new 6,000 m² building, housing a security hall and retail areas, was also completed.^[17] On 23 February 2016, Ryanair announced a growth of 20% in passenger numbers, bringing the airline's annual passenger capacity at Edinburgh Airport to 2.5 million. This was coupled with the news of six new services to Ryanair's winter schedule from Edinburgh and more services on its popular European destinations.

In February 2016, consultancy firm Biggar Economics announced that Edinburgh Airport contributes almost £1 billion annually to the Scottish economy.^[18] As part of the expansion works, Runway 12/30 was officially withdrawn from use on 29 March 2018.^[19]

VINCI ownership

On 17 April 2024, Vinci SA announced that it had reached an agreement with GIP to acquire a 50.01% shareholding of the airport for £1.27 billion, with GIP retaining 49.99%.^{[20][21][22][23]} The transaction was concluded on 25 June 2024.^[24][25]

In December 2024, Edinburgh Airport became the first in Scotland to record over 15 million passengers in a calendar year.^[26]

Passenger

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Edinburgh:^[27]

Cargo

Passenger numbers

Busiest routes

More information Rank, Destination ...

Busiest international routes from EDI (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 to 2023
1	Dublin	722,767	26%
2	Amsterdam	593,951	26%
3	Paris-Charles de Gaulle	438,164	43%
4	Tenerife-South	320,165	12%
5	Doha-Hamad	292,141	102%
6	Alicante	243,808	16%
7	Frankfurt	242,721	26%
8	Copenhagen	222,205	23%
9	Barcelona	218,961	22%
10	Palma de Mallorca	214,240	13%
Source: CAA Statistics[113]

Close

More information Rank, Destination ...

Busiest domestic routes from EDI (2023)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2022 to 2023
1	London Heathrow	1,049,394	43%
2	London Stansted	599,950	126%
3	London Gatwick	459,436	12%
4	Belfast International	433,876	41%
5	Bristol	422,825	43%
6	London City	342,810	13%
7	London Luton	313,448	27%
8	Birmingham	214,327	25%
9	Belfast City	116,994	39%
10	Southampton	89,058	9%
Source: CAA Statistics[113]

Close

Bus

Road

The airport lies on the A8 road, and can be reached by the M8 motorway and the M9 motorway. The airport can also be reached from the M90 motorway via the Queensferry Crossing.

Train

The airport has no dedicated railway station. However, it is served by the nearby Edinburgh Gateway station, which serves as an interchange with Edinburgh Trams services to the airport.^[118] The tram line also connects the airport to the nearby Edinburgh Park railway station.^[119]

A more extensive Edinburgh Airport Rail Link project to provide a direct heavy rail link was cancelled in 2007 due to increasing costs.^[120]

Tram

The airport is served by Edinburgh Trams, a light rail link.

The line from the airport travels eastwards through the western suburbs and the city centre of Edinburgh before heading north to Leith, eventually terminating at Newhaven.