Edinburgh Airport

Edinburgh Airport (Scots: Edinburgh Airport, Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Dhùn Èideann) (IATA: EDI, ICAO: EGPH) is an airport located in the Ingliston area of the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2018, handling over 14.3 million passengers in that year, an increase of 6.5% compared with 2017. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by total passengers in 2018. In 2019, Edinburgh Airport grew 3,1% compared to previous year with a total passengers number of 14,747,830.[3][4] It is located 5 NM (9.3 km; 5.8 mi)[1] west of the city centre, just off the M8 and M9 motorways. It is owned and operated by Global Infrastructure Partners, who are also a minority shareholder of Gatwick Airport.[5] The airport has one runway and one passenger terminal, and employs about 2,500 people.

Edinburgh Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGlobal Infrastructure Partners
OperatorEdinburgh Airport Ltd.
ServesEdinburgh, Glasgow, Lothian, Fife, the Scottish Borders and Central Scotland
LocationIngliston, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
Elevation AMSL136 ft / 41 m
Coordinates55°57′00″N 003°22′21″W
Websitewww.edinburghairport.com
Map
EGPH
Location in Edinburgh
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06/24 2,556 8,386 Asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Passengers14,747,830
Passenger change 18-193.1%
Aircraft movements130,016
Movements change 17–181.1%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS[1]
Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority[2]

History

Early years

Turnhouse Aerodrome was the most northerly British air defence base in World War I used by the Royal Flying Corps. The small base opened in 1916[6] 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 air strip.

The following units were here at some point:[7]

  • No. 26 Reserve Squadron RAF
  • No. 26 Training Squadron RAF
  • No. 73 Training Squadron RAF
  • No. 84 (Canadian) Reserve Squadron RAF
  • No. 89 (Canadian) Reserve Squadron RAF

In 1918 the Royal Air Force was formed and the airfield was named RAF Turnhouse and ownership 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.

The following units were here at some point:[7]

Post Second World War

When the war ended the airfield remained under military control, but by the late 1940s the first commercial services were launched. In 1947, British European Airways started a service between Edinburgh and London using Vickers Vikings followed by the Viscount and Vanguard series.

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. The net remained in place until the early 1970s and was used to stop one of the Ferranti Flying Unit Buccaneers which had over ran 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. After the disbandment of 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.

BAA ownership 1971 to 2012
Aerial view of Edinburgh Airport
Departure gate area

The British Airports Authority 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. A public consultation on planning started in November 1971 and ended in February 1972. 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 Her Majesty the Queen on 27 May 1977,[8] 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 a 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 Prestwick was the only "designated gateway" in Scotland under the US-UK Bermuda II Agreement.[9] 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.[10]

RAF Turnhouse was operational near the passenger terminal of the airport for all of the post war period, but was finally closed in 1997.[11]

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 at a cost of £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 south-east 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.[12] BAA announced on 23 April 2012 that it had sold Edinburgh Airport to Global Infrastructure Partners for a price of £807.2 million.[13]

Expansion

In 2013, a further extension to the passenger terminal was announced, taking the terminal building up to the Edinburgh Airport tram stop. The opening of the Edinburgh Trams in May 2014 created the first rail connection to Edinburgh Airport. Whilst the number of passengers has increased, the number of flights actually decreased in 2014 due to planes operating at higher capacity.[14] Passenger traffic at Edinburgh Airport reached a record level in 2015 with over 11.1 million passengers[15] and over 109,000 aircraft movements.[2] The terminal building is currently being expanded with an investment of £40m. A new £25m expansion project involving the construction of a new 6,000m² building, housing a security hall and retail areas, is also currently under way at the airport. 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, in addition to more services on its popular European destinations. In February 2016, consultancy firm Biggar Economics announced that Edinburgh Airport contributes almost £1 billion to the Scottish economy every year.[16] As part of the expansion works, Runway 12/30 was officially withdrawn from use on 29 March 2018.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Edinburgh:[17]

AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines Seasonal: Athens
Aer Lingus Regional Cork, Dublin
Air Canada Rouge Seasonal: Toronto–Pearson
Air France Hop Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Alitalia Seasonal: Milan–Linate
American Airlines Seasonal: Philadelphia[18]
Atlantic Airways Vágar
Austrian Airlines Seasonal charter: Innsbruck
BH Air Seasonal: Burgas
British Airways London–City, London–Gatwick, London–Heathrow
Seasonal: Florence, Palma de Mallorca
Brussels Airlines Brussels
Delta Air Lines New York–JFK
Seasonal: Boston[19]
easyJet Alicante, Amsterdam, Athens, Basel/Mulhouse, Belfast–International, Berlin–Tegel, Birmingham,[20] Bristol, Copenhagen, Geneva, Gibraltar,[21] Hamburg, Jersey, Kraków, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, London–Stansted, Lyon, Madrid, Milan–Malpensa, Munich, Naples, Paphos, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Reykjavik–Keflavik, Seville, Tenerife–South, Venice, Verona, Vienna
Seasonal: Bilbao, Bodrum, Catania,[22] Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Grenoble, Heraklion, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Sofia, Stuttgart
Edelweiss Air Zürich
Emirates Dubai–International
Eurowings Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf
Finnair Helsinki
Iberia Express Seasonal: Madrid
Jet2.com[23] Alicante, Antalya, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Málaga, Tenerife–South
Seasonal: Bodrum, Burgas, Corfu, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Faro, Geneva, Girona, Heraklion, Ibiza, Izmir,[24] Kefalonia, Kos, Larnaca, Menorca, Naples, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Pula, Reus, Rhodes, Salzburg, Split, Thessaloniki, Turin, Venice, Verona, Vienna, Zakynthos
KLM Amsterdam
Loganair Bergen, East Midlands, Exeter,[25] Islay, Isle of Man, Kirkwall, Norwich, Southampton,[25] Stavanger, Stornoway, Sumburgh
Lufthansa Frankfurt, Munich
Norwegian Air Shuttle Copenhagen, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda
Qatar Airways Doha
Ryanair Alicante, Barcelona, Bergamo, Berlin–Schönefeld, Billund, Bologna, Bratislava, Bucharest,[26] Budapest, Bydgoszcz,[27] Charleroi, Copenhagen, Derry, Dublin, Eindhoven, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gdańsk, Gothenburg, Gran Canaria, Hamburg, Katowice, Kaunas, Kraków, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Luxembourg, Málaga, Malta, Marseille, Nantes, Poznań, Prague, Riga, Rome–Ciampino, Santander, Seville, Sofia, Tallinn, Tenerife–South, Toulouse, Treviso, Valencia, Vienna,[28][29] Warsaw–Modlin, Wroclaw
Seasonal: Béziers, Bordeaux, Carcassonne, Corfu, Ibiza, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Memmingen, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa, Porto, Stockholm–Skavsta, Weeze
Scandinavian Airlines Stockholm–Arlanda
Seasonal: Oslo–Gardermoen
Transavia Rotterdam
Transavia France Seasonal: Paris–Orly
TUI Airways[30] Lanzarote, Tenerife–South
Seasonal: Antalya,[30] Burgas, Cancun, Corfu, Dalaman, Larnaca, Málaga, Menorca, Naples,[30] Orlando/Sanford, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Sharm El Sheikh (resumes 2 November 2020)[30]
Seasonal charter: Geneva, Innsbruck, Toulouse[31]
Turkish Airlines Istanbul
United Airlines Newark
Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Washington–Dulles
Vueling Barcelona
Wizz Air Bucharest, Budapest, Gdańsk, Warsaw–Chopin

Statistics

Passenger Numbers
Edinburgh Airport Passenger Totals
1985–2019 (millions)
Source: These statistics are combined BAA and CAA figures pre-1996, Edinburgh Airport: A History; McCloskey, Keith. Post 1996: United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority.[3][32]
Number of Passengers[nb 1]Number of Movements[nb 2]
1985 1,578,000 36,926
1986 1,651,000 36,596
1987 1,852,000 39,603
1988 2,080,000 40,664
1989 2,369,000 47,100
1990 2,495,000 47,900
1991 2,343,000 49,700
1992 2,539,000 56,400
1993 2,721,000 58,800
1994 3,001,000 61,100
1995 3,280,000 64,000
1996 3,810,000 68,800
1997 4,214,91999,352
1998 4,588,507100,134
1999 5,119,258101,226
2000 5,519,372102,393
2001 6,067,333112,361
2002 6,930,649118,416
2003 7,481,454118,943
2004 8,017,547125,317
2005 8,456,739127,122
2006 8,611,345126,914
2007 9,047,558128,172
2008 9,006,702125,550
2009 9,049,355115,969
2010 8,596,715108,997
2011 9,385,245113,357
2012 9,195,061110,288
2013 9,775,443111,736
2014 10,160,004109,545
2015 11,114,587115,286
2016 12,348,425122,220
2017 13,410,256128,675
2018 14,310,403130,016
2019 14,747,830131,617
Source:United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority[3][33]

Busiest routes
Busiest routes to and from Edinburgh (2018)[34]
RankAirportPassengers
Handled		% Change
2017/18
1London–Heathrow1,198,848 1.7
2London–Gatwick740,904 0.5
3London–Stansted732,022 1.6
4Amsterdam679,148 0.3
5Dublin627,537 1.6
6London–City496,961 2.5
7Bristol400,014 1.6
8Paris–Charles de Gaulle396,635 11.0
9Belfast–International328,320 15.3
10London–Luton315,116 2.0

Access and ground transport
Airlink 100 bus on Waverley Bridge
Edinburgh Gateway station interchange stop
Edinburgh Airport tram terminus
Transport at
Edinburgh Airport
to Glasgow
to Fife & to Aberdeen
Forth Bridge
 Dalmeny
Winchburgh Tunnel
 Edinburgh Airport
Ingliston Park & Ride
Gogarburn
 Edinburgh Gateway
 Gyle Centre
 South Gyle
 Edinburgh Park Central
 Edinburgh Park
Edinburgh Trams
 Haymarket
Edinburgh Trams
 Waverley/St Andrew Sq
 York Place
extension under
construction
East Coast Main Line

Bus

Lothian Buses provides public transportation to the airport and Edinburgh:[35]

  • Airlink 100 - Express bus to and from the city centre.
  • Skylink 200 - Local connections between Edinburgh Airport and North Edinburgh.
  • Skylink 300 - Local connections between Edinburgh Airport and Cameron Toll.
  • Skylink 400 - Local connections between airport and Fort Kinnaird.
  • N22 - Night bus service to the city centre and Leith.

First provides public transportation to the airport and West Lothian with one service:[36]

  • 600 - Connections between Edinburgh Airport to Livingston via West Lothian towns.

Stagecoach provides public transportation to the airport and Fife with one service:[37]

Xplore Dundee provides public transport to the airport from Dundee.

  • X90 - Express bus to and from Edinburgh Airport with Dundee city centre.

Citylink provides public transportation to the airport from Glasgow and Stirling:[38]

  • Citylink Air - Express bus to and from Edinburgh Airport with Glasgow city centre.
  • Citylink 909 - Express bus between Stirling, Grangemouth, Bo'ness and the airport.

Road

The airport lies on the A8 road, and can be reached by the M8 motorway and the M9 motorway. The airport is also within access 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.[39] The tram line also connects the airport to the nearby Edinburgh Park railway station.[40]

A more expensive Edinburgh Airport Rail Link project to provide a direct heavy rail link was cancelled in 2007 due to increasing costs.[41]

Tram

The airport is served by Edinburgh Trams, a light rail link. The system runs from the airport and travels across the western suburbs of Edinburgh, terminating in the city centre.[42][43]

Preceding station   Edinburgh Trams   Following station
Ingliston Park & Ride   Edinburgh Trams
Line 1		   Terminus

Accidents and incidents

On 20 July 1970 a Hawker Siddeley HS-125-3B (G-AXPS) operated by the Imperial Tobacco Company crashed on takeoff from Turnhouse on an empty positioning flight to Newcastle. The aircraft was a total loss and whilst the pilot was uninjured, the copilot was found dead on arrival at hospital. The probable cause of the crash was thought to be the application of incorrect rudder following a simulated engine failure on take-off. The reason for this application of incorrect rudder has not been determined.[44][45]

A De Havilland Moth Minor (G-AFOZ) crashed at Turnhouse during a low level display on 3 May 1975. One of the two occupants died in hospital the following day.[46]

On 27 February 2001, a Loganair Shorts 360 (G-BNMT) operating a Royal Mail flight to Belfast, crashed into the Firth of Forth shortly after taking off from Edinburgh at 1730 GMT. Both crew members were killed, but there were no passengers on board. A fatal accident inquiry later blamed a buildup of slush in the aircraft's engines before the crash. A protective covering had not been fitted to the engine intakes while the aircraft was parked at Edinburgh for several hours in heavy snow.[47][48]

Accolades
  • 2011 – 2nd Best Airport in Europe of the Airport Service Quality Awards by Airports Council International[49]
  • 2019 – Best Accessibility Initiative of the International Airport Review Customer Service Awards by International Airport Review[50]

Notes
  1. Number of Passengers, Freight and Mail include both domestic and international counterparts.
  2. Number of Movements represents total aircraft takeoffs and landings during that year.

References
  1. "NATS – AIS – Home". Ead-it.com. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  2. "Aircraft and passenger traffic data from UK airports". UK Civil Aviation Authority. 3 March 2017. Archived from the original on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  3. "A record year". Edinburgh Airport.
  4. "Airport data 2018 - UK Civil Aviation Authority". www.caa.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
  5. Kollewe, Julia (27 December 2018). "Gatwick airport: majority stake sold to French group". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 27 December 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2018.
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  7. "Turnhouse (Edinburgh)". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
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  9. "Wayback Machine" (PDF). 24 July 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2011.
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  18. "American Airlines Expands European Footprint and Modifies Asia Service". news.aa.com. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  19. "Delta continues international growth in Boston with new nonstop flights to Scotland". Delta News Hub.
  20. Symon, Ken (18 September 2019). "New flight to launch from Edinburgh to English city". businessInsider.
  21. "easyJet to launch direct flights between Gibraltar and Edinburgh".
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  24. https://www.jet2.com/News/Our_Summer_20_Programme_in_Full/
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  29. Liu, Jim. "Ryanair / Laudamotion S20 network consolidation as of 18JUN20". Routesonline. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  30. "Flight Timetable". tui.com.
  31. Liu, Jim. "TUI Airways UK W19 new short-haul routes". Routesonline. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
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  38. "Citylink :: Connecting Scotland". Citylink.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
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  46. Ranter, Harro. "Accident de Havilland DH.94 Moth Minor G-AFOZ, 03 May 1975". aviation-safety.net.
  47. Scotsman: Pilots praised as sheriff confirms snow caused crash Archived 20 September 2004 at the Wayback Machine, News.scotsman.com, 13 November 2003
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  50. "International Airport Review's 2019 award winners announced". International Airport Review.

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