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Edinburgh Airport has run away with the 'Best Airport' trophy at the ACI Europe Awards, shrugging off competition from six other hubs, including Birmingham, Cologne in Germany, and Marseille in France.

Held at the Estoril Congress Centre in Lisbon, Portugal, the ACI Europe Awards reward “excellence and achievement” in the aviation industry. Participants are nominated in one of four groupings according to the number of travellers handled at the airport during the previous year. Edinburgh, with annual traffic in the region of 8.5m, featured in the ‘Best Airport - 5-10m Passengers’ category.

“The airport excels in all the key areas of operations”, explained a press release on the ACI Europe website. “However, the judges singled (Edinburgh) out for the dedication of its management and staff.” Kevin Brown, Edinburgh’s managing director, said that he was “particularly pleased” that airport workers were responsible for the hub’s success in Lisbon. Mr. Brown noted that Edinburgh had battled volcanic ash, snow, and industrial action to emerge victorious at the awards ceremony.

Struggling airport, Bournemouth, stole the award in the ‘1-5m Passengers’ contest, while Antalya Airport in Turkey was the victor in the ‘10-25m Passengers’ category. Representatives from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, a “model in terms of efficiency”, returned to Holland with the ‘Best Airport – Over 25m Passengers’ award.

An ‘Eco-Innovation Award’, won by Zurich Airport, and a ‘WBP Recognition Award’, which rewards individuals who have contributed to the betterment of the aviation industry, were also contested this year. The latter accolade was claimed by Harry Diehl, former executive of German retail firm, Gebr. Heinemann.

The 2011 ACI Europe Awards, held on June 17, has been running for seven years.

Michael O’Leary’s airline, Ryanair, is to make sweeping cuts to its winter services at a number of UK airports, including Prestwick and Edinburgh in Scotland, and Stansted Airport in Essex. The move, announced earlier this month, means that 9 of 32 destinations from Edinburgh, and 3 of 15 from Prestwick, will not be available during winter 2011.

Given that Michael O’Leary is a vocal critic of the Air Passenger Duty, it should come as no surprise that Ryanair has cited the tax as the impetus for the winter flight cull. “UK airports continue to suffer from high tourist taxes, which continue to make Scottish destinations uncompetitive”, explained Lesley Kane, sales chief at Ryanair.

Edinburgh Airport stands to lose flights to Berlin in Germany, Malta in the Mediterranean Sea, Marrakech in Morocco, Tallinn in Estonia, and Turin in Italy. The flights are not presently offered by any other airline at Edinburgh, forcing passengers to travel to Glasgow Airport for routes to Berlin, Turin, and Malta, to Manchester for flights to Marrakech, and to Luton or East Midlands Airport for a trip to Tallinn.

Bosses at the Turnhouse hub were unfazed, however, stating “...we're confident that we will continue to add routes and mirror the growth from this year."

At Prestwick Airport, O’Leary’s axe will fall on routes to Girona in Spain, Salzburg in Austria, and to London Stansted. The cull marks the second time in as many years that Ryanair has reduced its winter programme at Prestwick, which will no doubt have officials pondering the airport’s overreliance on the blue and yellow airline.

Ryanair, one of just two ‘true’ airlines at Prestwick, will provide 12 of the total 16 routes available at the Scottish airport this winter. The remaining four destinations are offered by WizzAir, and package holiday companies, Atlantic Holidays and Holidays4U. Curiously, Iain Cochrane, boss at the Ayrshire hub, was “delighted” with Ryanair’s winter schedule, despite the loss of three routes.

O'Leary plans to ground 80 Ryanair planes in winter 2011, in a bid to offset the costs incurred from the rising price of oil.

While weather conditions often cause delays and cancellations at UK airports, few could have anticipated the chaos that “fierce winds” visited upon the Firth of Forth at the end of last month. In separate incidents on May 23 and 24, strong winds uprooted trees, damaged buildings, and tore the roof from a walkway at Edinburgh Airport.

The walkway, located in the southeast pier of the hub’s main terminal, leads to an area of the airport occupied by Flybe and Ryanair. The two carriers, which offer 18 and 36 flights from Edinburgh, respectively, operate departure lounges adjacent to the walkway. However, airport bosses say that passengers beneath the damaged roof were never in any danger.

Outside, on the airport’s runway, a fire engine was used to ‘shield’ planes from roof fragments, while five inbound aircraft were diverted to other airports. High winds were blamed for the cancellation of almost 90 departures and arrivals at Edinburgh on Monday last week. Wind speeds are alleged to have reached 80mph, or category 12 (hurricane force) on the Beaufort scale.

The British Red Cross says that 400 people were delayed or stranded overnight by the blustery weather and the eruption of Icelandic volcano, Grimsvotn, which grounded flights from KLM, British Airways (BA), Aer Lingus, and Ryanair on Tuesday, last week. Speaking about the cancellations, a BA spokesperson said that the flag-carrier would "never operate a flight unless it was safe to do so".

Red Cross officials referred to the situation as a “combination of freak weather conditions” that produced “lots of tired and cold families”.

Edinburgh, along with Aberdeen, Newcastle, Durham, and several other airports in the UK, has only recently been granted a reprieve from the threat of disruption, after fears about the return of Grimsvotn’s ash cloud persisted over the bank holiday weekend. The volcano ceased its grumbling on Saturday morning, though reports of Grimsvotn’s slumber did not surface until the following Monday.

People living in Edinburgh have petitioned the British Airports Authority (BAA), asking for a new bus route between the city's northwestern suburbs and Edinburgh Airport. The link, which would operate down Queensferry Road, would be paid for with some of the profits generated from the hub’s controversial £1 drop-off fee, implemented in October last year.

While the request may seem like retribution for forcing motorists to give up their hard-earned cash, the petition is only asking the BAA to comply with its own reasons for introducing the £1 levy. The operator implied that some of the money raised by the drop-off fee would be used to bolster the appeal of public transport, chiefly by encouraging car owners to leave their vehicles at home.

However, Alex Cole-Hamilton, local Liberal Democrat candidate, was unimpressed with the airport’s contribution, “it’s clear from what residents have told me that there are inadequate public transport links to the airport.” Mr. Cole-Hamilton noted that Edinburgh’s bus service, which is dominated by Lothian Buses, was insufficient for people travelling from the city’s northern areas, such as Newhaven and Muirhouse.

Exacerbating the problem is the news that a new tramline between Edinburgh Airport and the city's waterfront has hit a £100m funding shortfall. Kenny MacAskill, candidate for the Scottish National Party, said that the cash-strapped project was a “mess entirely of the council's own creation”, and refused to support pleas for additional funding from the Scottish government.

Whether the BAA can be encouraged to open its wallet for Edinburgh’s ailing transport network is debatable, but, given that the introduction of the £1 drop-off fee was a disaster for the airport’s reputation, the Turnhouse hub may find redemption in supporting community projects. Proponents of the new bus route say that the service would only need to operate once or twice an hour.

Scottish newspaper, the Scotsman, claims that around 1,000 people have signed the BAA petition.

Beginning in summer 2012, Thomson Airways will be offering new long-haul flights from Edinburgh Airport. The routes, dubbed the “longest ever” by the Scotsman, will complement an existing flight to New York, currently, the only long-haul destination on the airport’s books.

Thomson will connect the Scottish capital to Cancún, Mexico, between June and August next year. Cancún is a resort located on the Yucatán Peninsula in the extreme east of Mexico. The city enjoys a tropical climate throughout much of the year, excepting the odd hurricane, and is famous for its aquamarine seas and modest Mayan structures.

Sanford in Orlando, Florida, will be the second long-haul route to be offered by Thomson in 2012. Known by the unusual nickname, Celery City, due to the nature of the crops grown in the surrounding area in the early twentieth century, Sanford is a landlocked city on the St. Johns River. Sanford may seem like an unremarkable destination, when compared to Cancún, at least, but Sanford Orlando Airport is within an hour’s drive of Disney World, making it an ideal starting point for fans of theme parks and cartoon oddballs. Flights to Sanford will operate from Edinburgh during July and August.

The introduction of Thomson’s new routes could reignite the rivalry between Glasgow and Edinburgh airports, by encouraging competition in the long-haul flights market. In Scotland, the sector has historically been dominated by airlines flying from Glasgow: the Abbotsinch hub offers routes to Toronto and Calgary in Canada, Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and Lahore in Pakistan, among others. Glasgow also offers Thomson-branded flights to Cancún and Sanford, which will almost invariably lose passengers from the east of Scotland when Edinburgh’s summer 2012 campaign takes off.

Kevin Brown, chief at Edinburgh Airport, said that he was now looking to secure a route to a Middle Eastern airport, such as Dubai, to facilitate indirect flights to Asia and Australia.

Thomson and package holiday company, First Choice, are selling three new routes from Edinburgh Airport. The additions, Lanzarote and Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, and the island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea, come just a few days after Luton-based airline, easyJet, introduced flights from the Scottish hub to Grenoble in France, the Greek capital, Athens, and the largest Canary Island, Tenerife.

Speaking about Thomson’s latest investment, Kevin Brown, chief at Edinburgh Airport, said that the three new destinations were “very welcome”. The sky-blue airline claims that the trio of routes will lure an extra 8,000 new passengers to the hub. Thomson, anticipating a boom in Edinburgh’s popularity over the summer months, has already increased capacity on its most lucrative routes by 23,000 seats.

Paul Cooper, manager at Thomson, told the BBC News website that a surge in demand for the three destinations prompted the expansion. However, with just 13 routes available from Edinburgh, Thomson remains one of the smaller airlines at the airport, behind easyJet with 23 destinations, and Irish carrier, Ryanair, with 39. Thomson currently has no competition on the route to Rhodes, but the airline will have to do battle with Michael O’Leary’s airline for passengers bound for the Canary Islands.

Thomson is also offering package holidays in Rhodes and the Canaries. A seven-day holiday to Rhodes, beginning on July 24 2011, costs in the region of £530pp for three-star accommodation, and £652pp for the five-star Atlantic Imperial Resort in Kolymbia, Rhodes. The route will operate between June 29 and August 17 2011. Holidays in Gran Canaria are available from May 7 to October 29 2011, and cost between £434pp for three-star facilities, and £888pp for “affordable luxury,” otherwise known as a cheap five-star hotel.

A recent rise in Air Passenger Duty (APD) could seriously damage Scottish tourism, according to a report commissioned by the three largest airports in the country. The hubs, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, anticipate a combined loss of 1.2m passengers by 2014, if the travel levy is not reduced.

Introduced in 1994, APD is calculated by measuring the distance travelled between two airports, and then comparing the data to a list of tax bands, designated A to D by increasing distance from London. Europe, for example, falls into Band A, and generally incurs the lowest APD of all destinations. The USA and parts of North Africa are in Band B, while locations in the Caribbean are placed in Band C. The most expensive bracket, Band D, includes countries situated over 6,000 miles away from the UK, such as Australia.

The APD on flights to Band A destinations stands at £12 for standard class, up from £5 in 1994. Whilst the duty fee might leave a bitter taste, the levy is unlikely to break the bank for most flyers. However, family groups on long haul trips from Scotland to Argentina (for example), could be forced to part with up to £340 in APD, depending on their choice of seat class. The British Airports Authority claims that the APD on Band C and D locations could force 5% of long-haul travellers to rethink their holiday plans.

Aberdeen Airport’s new boss, Derek Provan, is concerned that the November 2010 rise in APD could begin to impact ‘lifeline’ services provided by air to Scottish islands, destinations that are currently exempt from the levy. Mr. Provan’s counterpart at Glasgow Airport, Amanda MacMillan, is more concerned about the impact of APD on tourism, “quite simply, if it is too expensive to fly to Scotland, tourists and airlines will go elsewhere.” The two directors, alongside Edinburgh’s Kevin Brown, have called for ministers to rethink “further taxation” of the aviation industry.

In terms of numbers, the APD could cost Scotland £77m in lost tourism, equal to 150,000 fewer international visitors a year. Domestic routes could also lose half a million people within the next three years.

The British Airports Authority (BAA) has effectively ended hopes of a new runway at Edinburgh Airport for the next thirty years. The aviation firm cited a recent slump in customers as the impetus for the move, believing that an expected hike in passenger numbers to 13m per year will now take almost a decade, rather than the original estimate of three years. Kevin Brown, Edinburgh Airport’s managing director, said that the BAA was now “grounded in the reality” of post-recession Scotland.

Unveiled in 2005, Edinburgh’s ‘master plan’ predicted a £1bn expansion that would double the size of the hub’s physical presence before 2030. Every airport structure, from terminal buildings and car parks, to departure lounges and cargo areas, was set for an overhaul to handle a “surge” in passengers and aeroplanes. The Scottish hub was aiming very high – 18m new travellers in three decades, more than treble the number of regular visitors in 2005.

However, when the recession dawned a few years later, Edinburgh Airport, much like the rest of the country’s businesses, found itself at the mercy of customers’ newfound frugality. The home holiday, or ‘staycation,’ was crowned king, and the sale of flights and package breaks quickly fell away. By the end of last year, Edinburgh had lost 5% of its annual passengers, down from 9m in 2009, to 8.6m in December 2010.

The master plan had become a pipe dream, and a revision was commissioned in January 2011. Officials now say that smaller projects will take priority, such as improvements to transfer facilities, and the construction of new aircraft stands and hangars. The overall size of the airport, contrary to 2005 projections, will not change, but the hub remains determined to boost both passenger numbers and aircraft movements within the next decade, to 12.3m travellers and 141,300 flights, respectively.

Bosses at Edinburgh may be hoping that a sufficiently large increase in passengers will force the BAA to table a new runway proposal before 2040. However, airport boss, Kevin Brown, intimated that consolidation and "waiting it out" would come before Edinburgh invests seriously in its expansion plans, “(the airport) is keen to capitalise on the opportunities that will arise when our economy begins to grow again.”

The master plan will now enter a 14-week consultation phase, which will allow the BAA to refine its plans and liaise with the public, before the report is finalised.

If your lust for snow and ice hasn’t been satiated by the recent widespread snow flurries, then North Atlantic airline, Iceland Express, has a surprise for you. The carrier will begin flying from Edinburgh Airport to the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, from June 14th 2011. The route will encompass the airline’s first UK destination outside London.

Reykjavik, in western Iceland, is not only one of the hardest words to type on a keyboard, but an increasingly popular destination for British travellers, despite the island’s famously high prices. Iceland Express’s new route is the second UK-Iceland flight to be announced this year, after rival airline, Icelandair, began running flights from Manchester Airport to the island republic during November.

Ironically, despite the expansions by the two carriers, Iceland is perhaps better known amongst airline bosses as the worst thing to happen to aviation in decades, after resident volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, closed much of Europe’s airspace back in April of this year. However, the mountain, and its associated glaciers, is likely to be a huge draw for holidaymakers, providing of course that it doesn’t explode.

Iceland Express will also link Reykjavik to Belfast, via Edinburgh, and to Dublin in the Irish Republic. The airline, alongside Icelandair, provides flights to the United States from Reykjavik Keflavik Airport, opening up destinations such as New York and Chicago to passengers travelling from Scotland and Ireland.

Edinburgh-Reykjavik will operate twice a week until August 30th 2011. Matthias Imsland, CEO at Iceland Express, was convinced that his airline’s new route is unique, stating: “No other airline offers direct flights between these destinations and Reykjavik. We are delighted to fill this gap".

The falling snow is causing the usual problems for the UK – closed schools numbering in the hundreds, an outpouring of ‘wintry scene’ photographs on news websites, chiefly involving family pets standing jaw-deep in snow, and the temporary closure of Britain’s many airports.

Perhaps the first airport to succumb to the weather was Jersey, which was closed for several hours at the weekend, after a lightning strike put radar equipment out of commission on Saturday, and then heavy snow blanketed the Channel Island on Sunday.

Newcastle, Cardiff, Durham, Leeds, Doncaster, and Luton airports have also reported problems, with the latter hub braced for increasingly severe weather from late on Tuesday evening.

However, Edinburgh Airport appears to have been hit the hardest by the falling snow. Bosses pulled the plug on flights on Monday evening for the second time in 24 hours, prompting tens of delays, and forcing many travellers to sleep on the cold terminal floor.

Edinburgh reopened at 0330 on Tuesday morning, before being closed once again at 0600. The airport has not reported any further problems since 1200, when snowploughs scrubbed the runway clean of snow.

The BBC News website reports that only a few planes were able to take off or land at Edinburgh Airport on Sunday and Monday, which goes someway to demonstrating the severity of recent wintry weather in Scotland.

Regular updates are being posted on the airport's official website, but all passengers are advised to contact their airline before leaving their homes, especially if more snow is falling.

Speaking earlier, a passenger at Edinburgh Airport noted serious disruption to normal services - “there were passengers asking taxi drivers if they would take them all the way to London,” the unfortunate flyer, whose flight to Orkney had been cancelled, said. “It was chaos.” The same passenger also observed “hundreds of people” queuing for buses at the airport.

Passengers at Edinburgh Airport can enjoy a series of new stores, courtesy of UK travel retailer, World Duty Free (WDF). The three shops, eyewear purveyor, Sunglasses, and a two in one store selling MAC and Jo Malone cosmetic products, are located in the airport’s departure area, beyond the security gates.

The two beauty outlets, MAC and Jo Malone, share the same space, dubbed a ‘dual concept’ shop by WDF. The store’s design, which is essentially an ordinary high street shop, albeit with two sides removed, was created in collaboration with US cosmetics giant, Estée Lauder, the owner of the two brands.

Sunglasses, rather unsurprisingly, sells non-prescription eyewear. Products from Ray-Ban, Tiffany, and D&G, among others, are arranged according to style or range, and left unboxed, allowing passengers to try them on, sadly with the result that greasy fingerprints are often left all over the lenses.

Jo O’Connor, Commercial Director at WDF, called the dual concept a “real first,” and a “huge draw for customers.” Kevin Brown, chief at Edinburgh Airport, echoed Jo’s sentiments, by saying that developments in the hub’s departure lounge, including the new WDF stores, have been welcomed by passengers.

Edinburgh Airport, much like Heathrow, East Midlands, and most other UK hubs, has always moonlighted as a shopping mall. The hub’s departure lounge is currently host to high street pharmacist, Boots, and US bookshop, Borders, as well as a number of specialist stores, such as a liquorice shop and even an art gallery.

Last year, the European duty-free market brought in around £2.5bn. Tax-free discounts at airport stores helped travellers save around £168m, when compared to high street prices. However, online retailer, Kelkoo, in a news item that upset the British Airports Authority earlier this year, maintains that online shopping still offers greater discounts than stores at UK airports.

Despite overwhelming opposition from local travellers and Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs), Edinburgh Airport has implemented a controversial ‘kiss and fly’ levy, forcing drivers to pay £1 for the use of airport drop-off zones. The announcement was made in July this year, but the need to build a suitable parking area pushed the scheme’s introduction back until the end of October.

Edinburgh joins East Midlands, London Luton, and Newcastle airports, and in Ireland, Belfast International, as pioneers of ‘pay as you stay’ drop-off zones.

Taxi drivers have been vocal in their criticism of the plan. Murray Flemming, a member of the Scottish Taxi Federation, referred to the move as a “wage cut” for drivers, as many will have to make multiple trips to the airport on any given day. Murray noted that councils had not yet decided whether local taxi ranks should increase their tariffs to compensate for the drop-off fee, which means that the parking charge is currently coming out of drivers’ pockets.

A solitary pound might not seem like a lot of money for the privilege of using a car park close to the terminal, but overstaying the initial ten-minute limit will add a further £5 on top of the original levy.

Edinburgh bosses note that a free parking area still exists in the long-stay parking zone. However, holidaymakers wishing to skip the £1 charge by using it will need to take one of two new buses to the airport.

It is interesting to note that 68 MSPs (roughly half of the Scottish Parliament, and 100% of those who contacted Edinburgh Airport) did not want to see the parking scheme implemented, yet the hub pressed ahead with the project anyway.

Edinburgh has spent £1m on upgrading the airport forecourt to support the new drop-off zone, which will “reduce congestion” and increase the popularity of public transport, according to the airport’s chief, Kevin Brown. However, drivers at East Midlands Airport might find amusing the idea that the parking fee will reduce traffic jams. Back in July, Eddie Strachan, a taxi driver from Narborough in the Midlands, said – “Early in the morning, the queue for the new drop-off zone reaches back out of the airport. It can take you 15 minutes to get in.”

Disabled customers with a Blue Badge can use Edinburgh’s new drop-off zone free for up to 15 minutes. Other customers will find the short-stay car park has a more agreeable tariff for stays of longer than 10 minutes.

Yorkshire-based airline, Jet2, is to begin operating a thrice-weekly service from Edinburgh Airport to the city of Budapest in Hungary.

The new route, which begins on 21 April 2011, is expected to cost around £29.99 for a one-way journey, taxes included, and stands as the only route to the Hungarian capital from Scotland.

Edinburgh is one of the most successful airports in the UK at present, adding 25 new routes in just eight months.

Additions by European airlines, such as Blue1, Spanair, Star1, and the comparatively local, Ryanair, have helped Edinburgh achieve a 1.6% increase in the number of people choosing to fly from the airport.

The Scottish hub now has more customers per annum than Birmingham and Glasgow airports, and almost twice as many per year as Liverpool John Lennon.

Kevin Brown, Edinburgh’s managing director, has stated that the airport wanted to connect with as many European capitals as possible.

The cities of Vilnius in Lithuania, and Helsinki in Finland, joined the airport’s schedules in February and September, respectively.

Other important destinations to appear on Edinburgh’s books include Barcelona in Spain, Marrakesh in Morocco, and Geneva in Switzerland. Kevin Brown noted that Budapest had been a “target for a long time.”

“The city is a leading destination and I'm sure it will prove extremely popular with Scottish travellers."

Jet2 will also boost the frequency of flights between Edinburgh and the Balearic island of Majorca, from just two at present, to five flights a week from summer 2011. The Majorcan route is priced at £35, one-way.

Philip Meeson, the airline’s chief, claimed to be “delighted” with the selection of Jet2 routes available from Edinburgh.

Scandinavian carrier, Blue1, has expanded its schedules to include a new flight between Edinburgh and Helsinki in Finland. The airline, which is housed at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, will operate the route twice a week from April 2011.

Kevin Brown, Edinburgh’s Managing Director, referred to the addition as a “significant development” for the Scottish airport.

Blue1 is relatively unknown outside Scandinavia, but with the addition of the Edinburgh route next year, it will become one of just two Finnish airlines to offer flights to the UK. The second flag-carrier, Finnair, makes regular trips between Helsinki and three British airports: Edinburgh, Manchester, and Heathrow.

Edinburgh now has 125 flights on its books, including eight destinations in Scandinavia, more than any other airport outside London. The Scottish hub has added an impressive 25 new routes in the last nine months alone.

Despite Finland’s potential as a holiday destination for intrepid Scots, Edinburgh expects Blue1’s latest offering to benefit Scotland’s tourist industry rather than Finland’s. Kevin Brown intimated that the route would be “predominantly inbound”, bringing Finns to Edinburgh and then taking them home again.

However, Blue1 appears to be just as eager to lure tourists to Helsinki, or the “beauty of the Baltic Sea region”, to quote the airline’s Vice Commercial President, Juha Järvinen.

The city is a hodgepodge of new and old structures, from the Kiasma art gallery, a half-crescent of steel, and the glass walls of the Haaga-Helia University, to the redbrick of the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral. Helsinki is also the Design Capital of 2012, making it an ideal destination for art and architecture buffs.

On November 3, budget airline, easyJet, will add a new route from Edinburgh Airport to the city of Paphos on Cyprus.

Three weeks later, on November 23, the carrier will also begin flying to Cologne, Germany. The two new routes complement a third to Basel in Switzerland, due to take off at the beginning of December.

EasyJet’s total out of Edinburgh now stands at 20 flights, all of which travel to destinations in Europe. The Paphos route will operate twice a week, whilst visitors to Cologne can choose from four separate weekly outings.

Paphos becomes easyJet’s most easterly destination by several hundred miles, ahead of Krakow in Poland, and Munich in Germany. The Cypriot city is revered for its subtropical climate and rich heritage, which incorporates elements of the Greek pantheon of gods; legend has it that the goddess of love, Aphrodite, was born on the island.

Cologne is perhaps the better-known destination, having been a major trading centre since the middle ages. Today, the city is one of the largest in Germany, known for its many museums and its Bundesliga side, 1. F.C. Köln. Cologne also holds an annual street carnival in November, which can last until March the following year.

Edinburgh’s new boss, Kevin Brown, referred to easyJet as a “key partner” in strengthening the capital’s link to “sun destinations and European cities.” The airport is also hoping that the new routes will bring tourists to Scotland. EasyJet called the additions a “testament to our continued commitment to Edinburgh.”

Edinburgh Airport’s new director has been inundated with requests to axe the hub’s £1 drop-off fee. New chief, Kevin Brown, will replace Gordon Dewar, the man behind the controversial levy, on Monday.

Local travellers will be hoping that Brown can adopt a service-orientated approach to airport business, rather than focusing on profitability.

Edinburgh officials previously claimed that the £1 charge was to stop people using ‘kiss and fly’ areas, but angry customers have accused the hub’s owner, the British Airports Authority (BAA), of profiteering.

The scheme’s critics, which include every political party in Scotland, according to the Scotsman newspaper, have collected thousands of signatures from people petitioning to have the parking fee removed.

“My constituents are extremely unhappy about the drop-off charge.” Lothians MP, Gavin Brown, explained in a letter to Edinburgh Airport. “I have received representations from every corner of the Lothians urging me to campaign vigorously against the levy.” The MP referred to the parking plan as a ‘drop-off rip-off.’

Glasgow and Aberdeen airports, also owned by the BAA, have refused to introduce a similar parking scheme, which has heaped pressure on Edinburgh bosses.

In England, Newcastle was the first UK airport to enforce drop-off fees when it axed its free parking zone in April. East Midlands Airport reconfigured its car parks earlier this month, and introduced a £1 drop-off fee of its own.

Edinburgh’s desire to remove traditional kiss and fly areas suggests that bosses want to ease congestion by forcing travellers to use public transport.

However, local Liberal Democrat MP, Alison McInnes, is concerned that the city’s bus routes are insufficient to support the plan, especially for those living in the outskirts of the Scottish capital.

EasyJet has launched a new route out of Edinburgh Airport, to the city of Basel in northwest Switzerland. The carrier, which recently celebrated a 9.5% boost in passenger numbers over those for June 2009, now operates 18 routes out of the Scottish capital, including flights to Krakow in Poland, and Munich in Germany.

The Basel flight will operate four times a week from December 3, making it EasyJet’s second Swiss route from Edinburgh, after the city of Geneva. Tickets for the route went on sale at the beginning of July, priced at £25.99 for a one-way trip. Paul Simmons, manager at EasyJet, called the addition ‘superb.’

‘Basel is a city full of culture, and we are delighted to offer our Scottish travellers the chance to visit this great destination,’ Mr Simmons said. The city’s unusual location, straddling a ‘tri-nation’ border with France and Germany, gives Basel a unique heritage that dates all the way back to 374AD, when it was founded on the banks of the Rhine.

EasyJet recommends the Altstadt and Münsterplatz areas of Basel, which are renowned for their ‘atmospheric streets and market squares,’ and the ancient gatehouse, Spalentor, in the city centre.

The airline will also put on extra routes from four other airports, including Liverpool and Manchester. EasyJet appears to be bolstering its winter schedules to take advantage of an ongoing strike by British Airways staff, and to capitalise on a cull of Ryanair flights at Stansted and Belfast.

EasyJet is still losing out to Ryanair, however; the Irish carrier posted a 15% rise in customer numbers over those for the year to June 2010, making it one of the largest commercial airlines in the world.

Budget airline, Jet2, has added six new routes out of Edinburgh Airport for the 2011 summer season. The routes, which include flights to the Croatian coast and the Czech Republic, among others, will begin in May.

Jet2 has made a name for itself over the past few months, for flying anything but regular travellers. The carrier rescued a pride of lions from Romania in February, becoming a budget ‘air-lion’ in the process, and a host of celebrities during the recent ash crisis, including Prince William and Damon Hill.

Biggles, a wounded racing pigeon, also found its way on to one of the carrier’s planes, after it landed in the back garden of Captain Mike Smith, a Jet2 pilot. The pigeon’s owner, Steve Girdwood, was ‘overjoyed’ to have his bird returned – ‘Biggles is one of my fastest birds. The wee fella did well to choose a pilot’s garden to land in.’

The good news is that Jet2 continues to cater for humans and ordinary mortals, and the airline’s new routes should help Edinburgh Airport make the most of the school holidays, which have already begun for Scottish schools.

Jet2’s latest flights begin at £29.99 for a one-way trip, taxes included. The routes are: Venice and Sardinia in Italy, La Rochelle and Toulouse, France, the historic city of Prague in the Czech Republic, and coastal Dubrovnik, Croatia. The airline now has twelve routes from the Scottish capital, all of which are to Europe.

A full list of Jet2’s new flights, including Belfast-Geneva and Manchester-Tunisia, is available on the airline’s website.

Edinburgh is set to become the second airport in as many months to implement a mandatory £1 levy for all drivers who use the site’s drop-off zones.

The Scottish hub, which is owned by BAA, will continue to operate a free drop-off area, albeit at some distance from the main terminal.

Parking charges are never popular. The high cost of airport parking spaces has been the subject of a number of investigations, not least of which is a recent survey by Which? magazine. The consumer watchdog discovered that Heathrow’s on-site parking costs up to £89, almost three times the price of a space at Liverpool or Bristol.

Newcastle was one of the first UK airports to introduce the controversial £1 parking charge, but a lacklustre advertising campaign left many travellers unaware of the levy until they tried to exit the site. Local taxi drivers called the scheme ‘disgraceful’, noting ‘chaotic’ scenes around the airport’s terminal.

Edinburgh’s new parking tariff appears to be identical to the one unveiled at Newcastle in May. Neighbour and close rival Glasgow Airport is also considering a change to its parking charges, but the outcry from Scottish drivers could stop both schemes from getting off the ground.

The Edinburgh Taxi Association (ETA) has warned that cabbies might start dropping customers off outside the airport’s perimeter, in an effort to avoid paying £1 for a stay of just a few minutes. ‘This is grossly unfair’, Raymond Davidson, secretary for the ETA, explained. ‘Taxi drivers will be up in arms about this. This is, quite frankly, outrageous.’

Airport bosses claim that the plan is still under consideration, but alterations to Edinburgh’s forecourt and the roads surrounding the airport are expected in the coming months. The Scottish hub has promised to hold talks with customers and stakeholders before implementing any drastic changes.

Residents of Manston, Kent, have cause for celebration this week, after Flybe announced the creation of a new route between Edinburgh and Kent airports. The route, which is due to begin on the 27 May, is the first connection of its kind for more than five years.

Kent Manston Airport might not seem like the most obvious place to visit, but the hub’s proximity to central London, as well as to Heathrow, Gatwick, and London City airports, makes it an ideal destination for Scottish executives who have business in the southeast. Kent Airport is also an hour’s drive from the Channel Tunnel.

Infratil, the owner of Kent Airport, claims that Flybe’s new route will create up to 20 jobs, and help bolster links with more than 100 businesses in the Manston area. The flight departs every weekday morning, leaving Edinburgh at 10.50 and returning from Kent at 12.45. A similar service operates on Saturday.

A new Bombardier Q400 will operate the service, which is expected to run until the end of October. The Q400 is alleged to be the most hi-tech propeller aircraft in the world, and one of the cheapest to operate. Flybe has 58 Q400 planes in its fleet, with a further eight on order from Bombardier.

Manston boss, Marta Easton, was optimistic for the tiny Kent airport – ‘The team is very excited about the return of daily flights to Edinburgh. We are confident that our passengers will receive great customer service on a par with – if not better than – any other regional airport.’

Flybe has also reinstated flights from Edinburgh Airport to Bergerac and Rennes in France. Kent Airport offers routes to Jersey, and to several destinations in Eastern Europe.

Related Links

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Eyjafjallajokull or simply, Eyjafjoll, is probably the most famous lump of rock in the world right now, having decimated the European aviation industry with thick clouds of volcanic ash and dust.

The volcano, which lies on a glaciated mountain range in southern Iceland, has been erupting intermittently since the middle of March, but the crater remained relatively unknown until the 14th April, when the wind carried the mountain’s emissions south towards Britain and northwestern Europe.

Since then, an estimated 150,000 British nationals have been stranded abroad, 70,000 of whom are in the Americas, as airlines across the continent were forced to cancel all scheduled and charter flights. Eyjafjoll’s ash cloud now reaches deep into Russia, after five days of violent eruptions.

Whilst the EU organises an emergency meeting, Gordon Brown has brokered a deal with the Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Zapatero, to allow planes carrying British citizens to land at the country’s airports. Travellers will then be escorted to three Royal Navy warships, including HMS Ark Royal, and returned to England.

Eyjafjoll’s eruptions have shown signs of weakening over the past few hours, but the Met Office continues to warn of southerly winds blowing dust over the country. Test flights in the south of England have arrived safely, however, prompting anger at National Air Traffic Services (NATS), which continues to impose a no-fly zone over the UK.

Up to 63,000 flights have been axed since Thursday, affecting 7m passengers. Airline bosses have warned that the bar on flights is costing the industry £130m a day, a severe blow for struggling carriers such as British Airways.

If you are concerned about your flight, please contact your airline in the first instance.

Ryanair is increasing its presence at Edinburgh Airport by introducing three new flights. From May 2010, passengers will now be able to choose to travel to Faro in Portugal, Marrakesh in Morocco and Paris when they jet away on holiday from the Scottish transport hub.

Ryanair currently operates 35 routes from Edinburgh Airport, so the addition of the three new routes will send its total number up to 38. This is some increase on the situation only a few years ago: back in 2007 it was only operating two routes from the airport.

As well as the extra three routes, Ryanair is also going to introduce extra flights on 11 more of its existing routes. As a result of the extra flights and the extra routes, Ryanair’s traffic at the airport is soon expected to reach the 2.5 million-per-year mark. This means that Ryanair will be carrying a quarter of the total number of passengers passing through the airport.

The new route to Marrakesh is especially important for both Ryanair and Edinburgh Airport because it is the first direct flight to the Moroccan city to operate out of Scotland. Now travellers could find themselves going from the heart of Scotland to the Sahara desert in a matter of hours.

Morocco is sure to prove a popular destination because it is not much further to travel than Spain but provides travellers with a taste of Africa that is quite different from anything found in Europe.

The managing director of Edinburgh Airport, Gordon Dewar, said that they were “delighted” Ryanair had chosen them for the expansion, adding that the new routes and increased flight frequency make Edinburgh “better connected than ever before."

Irish airline, Ryanair, has added three new routes to its Edinburgh schedules – Marrakech, in Morocco, Faro in Portugal, and Paris, France. The airline now operates 38 routes out of Edinburgh.

Last year, Ryanair axed flights at a number of UK airports, including Robin Hood and Birmingham, and moved its planes to Edinburgh, where fourteen new flights helped elevate the airport above its closest rival, Glasgow.

Edinburgh posted an impressive 5.6% rise in passenger numbers in September 2009, and a further 0.6% boost at the end of the year, despite being battered by appalling weather.

Ryanair boss, Stephen McNamara, issued a template statement, and then extended the airline’s never-ending sale for another week. Edinburgh boss, Gordon Dewar, was delighted with the news, however:

“We have managed to replace the seats lost by the collapse of Flyglobespan late last year. The Marrakech route is particularly exciting as it’s the first link from Scotland to this burgeoning tourist destination.”

The new routes completed a bumper week for Edinburgh, coming just days after an English developer announced plans to build two hotels near the airport, capable of housing 350 guests between them.

Located opposite the main control tower, the two hotels will help alleviate pressure on the nearby Hilton Hotel, which recently finished building forty extra rooms. Local accommodation will be expected to cope with an explosion in passenger numbers over the coming year.

Up to 500 jobs will be created by the hotel, including 325 construction positions. A completion date has yet to be agreed upon.

Related Links

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The security chief position has been axed at Edinburgh Airport, with the terminal manager set to take over all security operations from now on. This has led security experts to criticise the move, and even the Prime Minister has become involved by saying that he will look into the decision.

Over 9 million passengers use Edinburgh Airport every year, and with the threat of international terrorism increasing across the world, demonstrated by the recent Christmas Day bomb alert in Detroit, it seems sensible that the major airports have dedicated security personnel in charge. However, when Alistair Bonthron leaves the post the security team is to merge with the terminal team.

Gordon Brown said that BAA had to take its responsibilities seriously when it came to security. He was responding to the Liberal Democrat MP, John Barrett, who brought up his concerns with the Prime Minister. Brown said that it is “a matter to be worked out but I shall obviously look into the case.”

A spokeswoman for BAA said that the same arrangement was in place at Glasgow Airport and reiterated that safety and security were a priority at all BAA Airports. The managing director of the airport, Gordon Dewar, also confirmed that security is a “foremost priority” and highlighted the tens of millions of pounds spent on new security facilities and staff training at Edinburgh Airport over recent years.

However, the former head of security for BAA, Norman Shanks, said that the decision seemed “odd”, adding that safeguards would need to be put in place to prevent the decision leading to any lack of security.

Last week thousands of holidaymakers woke to find that their carrier, Flyglobespan, Scotland’s biggest airline, had gone bust. The airline had denied earlier in the week that liquidation was on the cards, saying that Jersey company, Halcyon Investments, were about to offer a major funding package.

Like other airlines, Flyglobespan had been hit by the recession, making a loss of £19 million in 2007 – 2008 although a profit of £1.2 million for 2008 – 2009 had seemed to herald better times. Spiralling fuel costs and plummeting passenger numbers though were obviously too great an impediment to recovery.

Not only were 5000 holidaymakers stranded abroad and 117,000 prospective holidaymakers facing disappointment, but 800 staff were left facing Christmas without a job. Apart from a small nucleus who will be employed to oversee the winding up of the company, all other staff members will be made redundant.

Ryanair and Easyjet were offering to fly stranded passengers home where routes overlap for fares between £60 and £89. Apart from flying to Mediterranean resorts, the airline also operated routes to Florida and Egypt.

Passengers who booked using a credit card or through an ATOL bonded agent should get their money back eventually but there are tens of thousands who had holidays booked who will lose their money, having used debit cards or booked flights only through the website.

News was breaking at the weekend that the airline had been badly let down by the credit card handling agency, E-Clear, said to owe Flyglobespan £34 million. If even part of this sum had been in the airline’s bank account the crisis could have been averted, according to the Finance Minister.

Giant spiders found yet another way to terrorise British travellers last week – they learnt to fly.

In the 1950’s, low budget horror movies were a staple of Hollywood cinema, often starring unknown actors and teary-eyed damsels, battling to save the earth from giant monsters, killer robots, and green aliens with ray guns.

The genre reached a crescendo in the sixties but unusual creatures continue to grace our screens, stomping all over New York, or emerging from a tin box on Horsell Common, tentacles flapping in the breeze.

Of course, there’s no such thing as the bogeyman, as the mantra goes. The monsters we see on TV every Saturday night are stuntmen in rubber suits, trying to catch a break as a serious actor, the aliens are puppets, clever robots on thin pieces of wire, and creepy-crawlies cannot fly.

Or can they?

A British Airways (BA) passenger got the shock of his life last week, when a real life movie monster marched between his legs – a giant tarantula, catching an early morning flight from London to Edinburgh.

Specialist bug zappers were called in from Gatwick Airport to deal with the stowaway spider, but an exhaustive search has since revealed no trace of the arachnid. Officials have conceded that the tarantula could still be aboard the aircraft, hiding.

“It is unusual for something like this to be found on a domestic service, but an exhaustive search of the aircraft would probably involve stripping it to its components." BA offered few condolences to travelling arachnophobes.

Despite their fearsome reputation, tarantulas are not dangerous to humans, although many species possess a nasty bite. Officials have speculated that the eight-legged beastie might have arrived on a cargo shipment, and simply caught the wrong plane home.

Foreign arrivals at Edinburgh Airport are likely to see some long delays over the next few months as the immigrations hall has started to undergo huge renovations. The hall will be enlarged by 25%, and the works are likely to seriously affect millions of foreign travellers passing through the airport.

Edinburgh is one of the busiest airports in the UK, and currently sees flights arriving from 25 countries. The majority of these are from Ireland, Germany, France and Spain.

9 million passengers passed through the airport last year, and 40% of those were international travellers. The number of overseas passengers passing through the airport has tripled over the last decade, and is certain to expand even further following the renovations to the immigrations hall.

The rise in international passengers has been rapid. In 1999, 700,000 international passengers passed through the airport each year. In the last few years this figure has been more like 2 million a year, or about 10,000 per day. This huge rise was not expected, and it is this that has led to the need for the increase in the size of the immigrations hall.

Gordon Dewar, the managing director of Edinburgh Airport, apologised in advance for the problems that it would cause to numerous journeys. He explained that, with a project of such a size, there were certain to be problems that could not be prevented. He confirmed that the airport is “working closely with the UK Border Agency, airlines and others” in a bid to keep disruption to a minimum.

The new immigration hall will use advanced technology to provide improved security, such as facial recognition software. The redesign will cost in the region of £2 million.

Edinburgh Airport has been bucking the trend to show increased passenger numbers during July. This is the fourth consecutive month that numbers have been rising, showing how popular the airport continues to be compared to its competition. It was, however, a different story for Aberdeen and Glasgow airports, both of which saw traffic fall sharply.

Whereas Aberdeen saw a 9% drop in passenger numbers when compared to the same time last year, and Glasgow witnessed a 12.9% fall, Edinburgh went against the grain to see a 5.6% rise.

Overall, BAA’s airports witnessed a 4.6% drop in passenger numbers, with just over 2 million people using the airports. However, a spokesman for BAA said that it still represented a “substantial number of travellers”.

BAA Scotland also announced that, despite the falls across the board, there were now signs of stabilisation, as July’s drop was the smallest such drop since January.

The recession has had a huge effect on the troubled aviation industry, which has seen passenger numbers drop significantly as people try to save money on their holidays. But it seemed that some people were simply not willing to give up their annual holiday away in the sun, which could account for the latest figures.

Edinburgh’s performance was one of the best in the country, with Heathrow only posting a 0.9% growth during July and Stansted and Gatwick also posting falls. Overall, passenger numbers across all BAA airports were down 2.4% compared to last year.

The deputy chief executive at Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, Graham Birse, was pleased with the figures, stating that any rumours of problems within the financial sector of the city had been “grossly exaggerated”.

Michael O’Leary has found a friend in Edinburgh Airport as his budget airline, Ryanair, prepares to expand its operations at the Scottish facility.

The additional routes will augment Ryanair’s current roster with eight others, including winter flights to Barcelona in Spain, Munich in Germany, Oslo in Norway and Gdańsk in Poland.

Edinburgh and Ryanair have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship for a number of years, but the recent expansion marks a significant 42% increase in flights over the same period last year, when the airline offered just nine destinations.

Company representative Stephen McNamara hailed a “dramatic increase” in flights. The airline has also added routes to airports in Dusseldorf in Germany and Madrid in Spain.

Ryanair has been busy reshuffling its UK operations, drawing criticism from airport bosses and forcing some customers to alter their holiday plans. Earlier in the week, the airline moved many of its planes away from Manchester Airport, blaming excessive landing fees for its decision.

Many of Manchester’s planes are now idling on the apron at Edinburgh.

In celebration of the new routes, Ryanair is helping winter passengers "beat the recession” by offering millions of 99p seats. Add the obligatory taxes, however, and two adults flying from Edinburgh to Girona, Barcelona and back can expect to pay around £88, excluding baggage and handling fees (call it £110, with one suitcase).

The new routes come into effect on the 30th October (Lanzarote), 31st October (Tenerife), 3rd November (Barcelona, Brussels, Gdańsk) and the 4th November 2009 (Gran Canaria, Munich, Oslo). Tickets can be purchased online.

RDC Aviation, a consultancy firm for the air transport industry, has declared Edinburgh International the best performing airport in the UK, despite a ten percent drop in passenger numbers.

The airport, which recently celebrated its busiest day ever, recorded an exponential rise in cargo tonnage, bucking a trend that saw commercial traffic drop by 25% throughout the rest of the UK.

Flights from Bournemouth and Cardiff helped boost domestic arrivals at Edinburgh, but the Scottish facility continued to fall to a record low of nine million annual customers – a drop of 100,000, the lowest of all UK airports.

London Stansted, East Midlands, and Robin Hood airports all saw passenger numbers plummet during 2008. Even London Heathrow, the third busiest airport in the world, lost a full one percent of its sixty-eight million customers.

With the recession in retreat, an estimated £250m has been earmarked for the re-development of many of Edinburgh’s key facilities. A new departure lounge – costing around £40m – is due to be completed in 2010. A project to resurface the main runway was also completed in November 2008.

Climate Camp Scotland, an environmental pressure group, has taken umbrage over the extension plans, and threatened to raid Edinburgh Airport as part of a wider campaign of industrial sabotage.

The group went on to destroy a key conveyor belt at a nearby Scottish Coal facility, interrupting operations, and putting 30,000 coal trucks back on the road. Diarmaid Lynch, a spokesperson for the group, described the attack as “fantastic.”

Despite the threats, however, Edinburgh airport was eventually spared the group’s brand of vigilante justice.

If you were the absent minded person guilty of leaving a piece of luggage unattended in the ladies' toilets at Edinburgh airport last week, you may well want to think twice before confessing to the fact.

The said suitcase was the cause of a full security alert which led to the check-in and security areas being closed, flights being seriously delayed and thousands of passengers being evacuated from the terminal building, whilst a bomb disposal team blew up the case which was discovered to have nothing suspicious inside it.

The evacuation happened last Monday afternoon (6 July 2009) just after the Easyjet flight to Amsterdam had taken off. By 5pm the airport had reopened although passengers were warned to expect delays whilst the backlog of flights was dealt with. Amongst those facing serious delays were the Heart of Midlothian football team, due to fly out to Germany for training and a friendly match.

Only last month there were other dramatic scenes at the airport when a Loganair flight to the Isle of Man had to be abandoned and passengers evacuated from the aircraft, after smoke was seen coming from one of the engines, just minutes before the plane was due to take off.

This followed a previous incident when an Air France aircraft experienced problems on the runway which, given the recent Air France tragedy over the Atlantic which killed 228 people, left passengers on the Edinburgh flight badly shaken.

Edinburgh airport has recently recorded its busiest ever day with 35,899 passengers passing through the airport.

Scotland’s busiest airport, Edinburgh, has been enjoying something of a boom with passenger numbers having doubled over the last ten years to just under nine million in 2008. New plans have now been unveiled for the airport, with owners, BAA, announcing that they will be investing forty million pounds to make Edinburgh airport one of the most modern in the whole of Europe. The new terminal along with bars, restaurants, and shops, will be able to support thirteen million passengers a year.

Edinburgh airport’s managing director, Gordon Dewar, is delighted and sees the proposed investment as a real “vote of confidence”. He said that the plans are good for Edinburgh and for Scotland as a whole. Although nowhere is immune to the current recession facing the country and, in particular, the aviation industry, Mr Dewar believes that it is imperative to “look to the long term and build for the future”. Edinburgh airport helps sustain Scotland’s tourist industry and the thousands of jobs which go with it.

The city council also greeted the news enthusiastically, with its leader, Jenny Dawe, stressing that this sort of investment in Scotland’s infrastructure is vital for the country to “remain competitive in the global marketplace”.

The development will take two years to complete and it is hoped that disruption to passengers can be kept to a minimum, with a phased basis being utilised, to ensure that the main departure lounge can be kept open throughout with sufficient access to the departure gates. A new security area will form part of the new terminal with fourteen new x-ray machines being introduced.

Last week, the busiest airport in Scotland announced some very impressive news: Edinburgh Airport’s main runway has been resurfaced and generally upgraded ahead of schedule. The project, which cost millions of pounds to complete, began earlier this year in April and was due to be completed at the end of this month. However, the project ran so smoothly that its final stages were completed last week.

The main runway at the popular airport handles approximately 115,000 flights each year and it has been revamped for the first time since the early 1990s. Workers employed by the project were kept extremely busy during the long summer and autumn nights, laying thousands of tonnes of asphalt, with flights being relocated to the second runway at the airport during this time.

As well as laying the asphalt, workers were responsible for replacing over one thousand lights on the runway. These improvements will extend the life of the runway for another fifteen or so years. The managing director of the airport, Gordon Dewar, believes that the “complex and challenging project” has been a success and he revealed his delight at the work being completed “on time and on budget”.

Dewar was also keen to thank the residents of south and west Edinburgh for their patience. The flights which were switched to the second runway resulted in different areas of the city being affected by annoying aircraft noise. Although the airport made “every effort to minimise disruption”, he was aware of the potential for annoyance and thanked the residents for their understanding.

Since the start of the credit crunch, the bad news and negative announcements have seemed endless. However, last week, Edinburgh Airport had good reason to be positive despite the increasing financial gloom and uncertainty, as it announced that revenues at the airport have continued to increase over recent months. BAA, the major airport operator, revealed that income resulting from aeronautical charges at the Scottish airport increased by approximately two per cent in the nine months to the end of September.

BAA was able to reveal this good news despite passenger numbers declining drastically recently, with consumers feeling the need to tighten the purse strings and stay at home rather than travel abroad. Passenger numbers fell by almost one and a half per cent but Colin Matthews, the chief executive of BAA, believes that the operator has “delivered a resilient performance with results in line with forecasts”.

Furthermore, BAA is aware that the coming months are going to be tough for the airline industry as a direct result of the credit crunch but the operator is still set to try to improve customer satisfaction and improve the operational side of its business. BAA has revealed that it intends to fight to keep Edinburgh Airport, as well as Glasgow Airport, despite the recent findings of a report by the Competition Commission. Their report revealed that BAA should sell either Edinburgh or Glasgow but whilst the operator has announced plans to sell London Gatwick Airport, it is not keen to relinquish control of the Scottish airports.

Over recent years travel for disabled passengers and their families has become easier with growing awareness of the problems faced and appropriate legislation introduced. Sadly though this was not the case for the Pratt family from Cumbernauld near Glasgow who flew into Edinburgh airport recently.

Their ten year old daughter, Lucy, suffers from cerebral palsy and, in accordance with BAA requirements, the family had made it known to the airline when booking and again a few days before the flight that they would require a special disabled lift to disembark. The provision of the lift was not in itself the problem, more the fact that the only person trained to operate it was at home in bed.

Airline staff had the embarrassment of admitting to the Pratt family that they were not qualified to operate the equipment and although Lucy’s father Alex offered to help carry his daughter down the aircraft steps in her wheelchair, health and safety provisions were such that this was not a possibility. Had Mr Pratt had an accident he would not have been insured.

Airline staff suggested that he carry Lucy off the plane but due to her condition, which causes spasms of her limbs, Mr Pratt felt that this was too dangerous both for himself and his daughter. After an hour of discussions it was agreed that he could transport her in a light weight collapsible wheel chair.

Meanwhile the other passengers, who had waited half an hour for the problem to be resolved, had been bussed to the terminal. Mr Pratt describes the incident as “a farce” and told a Scottish newspaper that the whole situation was “shameful”.

Edinburgh airport has said that steps have been taken to make sure disabled access is available 24 hours a day, small compensation for the Pratt family, but at least the airport is now no longer breaching EU legislation introduced last month.

There’s a bit of a seesaw effect going on in the world of airports in the UK. When one goes up the others go down. When Heathrow goes down Gatwick goes up and now the latest airport to join Gatwick is Edinburgh, which this year has been going up and up and through the roof.

The Scottish capital’s airport has seen a 1.5% increase in passengers coming through its doors, which might not seem like the biggest leap forward in the world but the key figure is the record number of passengers in June 2008, which reached 859,000.

So why is this? Well a lot more Scots are travelling to popular holiday destinations such as Alicante and Malaga and also to destinations in France, Italy and Eastern Europe. Gone are the days of people driving down south to get flights abroad from the big London airports when they can use their regional airport. It’s not only Edinburgh either that is going up and up. Glasgow and Aberdeen airports, together with Edinburgh, have seen the total number of passengers in March 2008 reach 11.6 million people.

It does come as a slight surprise to the tourism industry but The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) have been keen to stress that the credit crunch is not affecting people’s decisions to holiday abroad as much as we might have thought. It might be that people, such as those using Edinburgh airport, want to escape from the financial burdens here in the UK this year more than any time.

In this post 9/11 world where heightened sensitivities exist around planes and terrorist activities, a flippant remark about a bomb can land you in hot water – even if you are saying that you do NOT have a bomb on your person!

This was the lesson learnt last week by a fifty two year old engineer from Ankenesstrand in Norway. Kjell Bjoennes became obstructive when he was asked to remove his belt, when passing through security at Edinburgh airport. Security staff decided to make the request because the belt had a heavy buckle but Mr Bjoennes became abusive, shouting at staff that he had a belt, not a bomb. Having removed his belt to have it put through the metal detector, he was picked out for a random search, adding to his displeasure. He continued to insult security personnel, belittling their job and made further remarks about bombs.

The police were called and Bjoennes apologised. He was arrested, nevertheless, and appeared last week at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, where he was fined £650 after pleading guilty to a breach of the peace. The judge, Sheriff John Horsburgh QC, indicated that the father of two had got off lightly. Had he not pleaded guilty early on, the fine would have been £1000. Regard was given to the fact that the Norwegian engineer earns £120,000 a year net of tax, with the judge saying that, in the light of his high earning power, a substantial fine was justified. The court heard that alcohol had played no part in the incident, with Mr Bjoennes being teetotal.

In 2004 a British student found out how seriously so-called jokes about bombs are taken by the American authorities. After she joked about having three bombs in her luggage at Miami airport she was arrested and could have been jailed for 15 years. Instead she was ordered to pay a thousand dollars to a charity for the families of those killed in the 9/11 attacks and to write a letter of apology.

In common with many UK airports, Edinburgh airport is planning to expand and aims to be able to deal with 26 million passengers a year by 2030. Currently the airport council is conducting research to see how best to do this. Meanwhile the development plan for expansion is said by the airport to take account of environmental factors and the concerns of the local community.

One casualty of the plans, however, is the Royal Highland Showground which is having to relocate and a row has broken out over just who should foot the bill, expected to be a staggering £353 million. This seemingly astronomical bill is purely a like-for-like estimate, based on expected costs in 2012 and does not include the additions which the Showground would like, such as a 10,000 seater stadium for concerts and conferences, three extra exhibition halls, offices and a 150 room hotel. The previous estimate had been £275 million but after detailed costings were carried out it became clear that this was an underestimate.

The move is being made to a new site at Norton Park on the other side of the A8. RHASS bosses insist that the bill should be footed by BAA but the airport authorities have put their foot down. Funding is unlikely to come from the Department of Transport either, with the Scottish Parliament adamant that the government should not have to step in.

The RHASS is keen for agreement to be reached by the end of the year, in order that building work can start in 2010. They hope to move into their new premises in 2013.

Ministers at the Scottish Parliament could find that their ambitious target for reducing emissions affecting climate change by 80% by 2050, is going to be impossible to meet. The increasing popularity of Scotland’s airports has resulted in some 25 million people flying out from them each year. Current predictions show that this number is set to increase to 30 million in the next two years, 50 million by 2030 and 120 million by 2050, leading to fears that aviation emissions could exceed emissions from all other sources such as industry, agriculture and motor vehicles.

The World Development Movement has said that Scotland owes it to the world's poorer nations, who are already suffering the catastrophic results of climate change, to make the bill work. However, it is not only those far from home who are feeling the effects. It is estimated that 77,000 homes in Scotland will be prone to flooding if reductions are not made.

Meanwhile, the Green Party has lashed out at plans for the expansion of Edinburgh’s airport, currently Scotland’s favourite departure point. This year alone, 27 new services have been introduced and passenger numbers have risen to over 9 million, nearly a 5% increase from the previous year. The expansion plans have infuriated the Edinburgh Green Group, with one councillor accusing Jenny Dawe and the SNP of “living in two parallel worlds” where climate change and reducing emissions matter but where airport expansion is seen as an excellent thing.

Delta airlines has recently launched its first direct service between Edinburgh Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). The non-stop flight is now taking Edinburgh passengers across the Atlantic once a day using a Boeing 757-200 ETOPS aircraft, providing travellers with a convenient, fast and reliable service.

The aircraft holds 158 seats in economy class and 16 seats for business elite passengers. Priding itself on its creature comforts, the airline provides travellers with all-leather seating and access to Delta on-demand, the airline’s in-seat entertainment channel. In addition, business class travellers also get a quilted duvet, full-sized pillow, a choice of meals designed by celebrity chef Michael Bernstein, stainless steel cutlery, contemporary dinnerware, and a complementary amenity bag.

Delta is already one of the most successful airlines in the world, offering flights to 37 trans-Atlantic destinations, but this year it has made further expansions with thirteen new international services from British airports. Speaking about the new Edinburgh-New York Service, Glen Hauenstein, executive vice president of Delta’s Network and Revenue Management department said, “No one offers more destinations across the Atlantic. Delta's new flight connecting New York to Edinburgh continues our successful international expansion.”

Despite its prevailing success, however, Delta has recently suffered set-backs at Edinburgh airport when, last year, it was forced to cancel its Edinburgh-Atlanta service after only twelve months in the air. The route was cancelled due to rising fuel prices but was set to relaunch in June this year. Now that Delta has successfully launched the Edinburgh-New York service, plans for the Edinburgh-Atlanta relaunch have been postponed indefinitely.

On the 30th March 2008, Edinburgh Airport began its multi-million pound scheme to resurface its main runway. The project will take place over 8 months, and is expected to be completed this coming November. It will cost around £16 million to resurface the runway, and will involve a number of changes to the airport’s night flights. Arrivals and departures between 23:00 and 05:45, Sunday to Friday, will be using Edinburgh’s second runway. The main runway should be in full operation during the day, however, causing minimal disruption to its daytime fliers.

The change of runway for the nighttime flights means that many aircraft will be flying close to homes that do not usually encounter aircraft noise. Households that are likely to be affected by these changes are being sent information about the project and any possible disturbances they may face over the coming months. The managing director of Edinburgh Airport has ensured that every effort has been made to minimize disturbances to local residents. The areas likely to be affected include:

• Cramond
• Newbridge
• Ratho Station
• Broxburn
• Livingston
• Midlothian
• West Lothian
• Bo’ness

Anyone who has concerns about the resurfacing project is urged to attend one of the community meetings or get in touch with the airport:

Edinburgh Airport
Scotland
EH12 9DN

Tel: +44 (0)870 040 0007
Fax: +44 (0)131 344 3470
Aircraft noise hotline: 0800 731 3397

Edinburgh’s main runway was last resurfaced in 1991. It helped to transform Edinburgh Airport from a small airport to a major international airport, which is now the busiest in Scotland. The current project is expected to renew the runway's life for another 10 years. It will help to develop Edinburgh Airport even further to accommodate for the increasing number of passengers and aircraft movements over the next decade.

Three hundred holidaymakers were left shaken and scared a few days ago, after the pilot on a Boeing 737-700 was forced to make two aborted landings at Edinburgh airport. The ‘flyglobespan’ plane, on a return journey from Lanzarote, was pulled back twice from landing because the pilot’s visibility was poor and the runway lacked a guiding system. The airport is currently using a secondary strip for night-time landings, whilst the main runway is being resurfaced, and lacks the landing system which most runways use to give lighting and radio guidance to descending aircraft.

After aborting the landing for the second time, the pilot flew the plane to Glasgow airport where it was able to land without a hitch, and buses took passengers back to Edinburgh. However, by the time the plane did manage to land many of its passengers were severely shaken. According to a 61 year old passenger, Rosie Blackley, “As we descended I could see the runway lights, then, all of a sudden, the pilot pulled up. We were practically vertical… five minutes later he went down and then shot back again.” Rosie’s husband Harry said, “We were left a bunch of nervous wrecks. There were a lot of upset people.”

A ‘flyglobespan’ spokeswoman apologised to the travellers for the inconvenience of the aborted landings but added, “Safety is always our primary concern.” A representative for BAA (who operate Edinburgh airport) also apologised, assuring the public that the secondary runway has not been a big problem with few planes flying in to the airport at night. Renovations on the main runway are expected to be finished by November.

Planning permission has recently been granted for much needed accommodation to be developed near Edinburgh Airport. Edinburgh councillors gave the go-ahead last week for a £4.5 million development to be built on a site facing Glasgow Road. It will help to meet the increasing demand for hotel rooms close to the airport. The 97-bed project had already been approved by planning officials, who had praised its potential to provide new jobs and boost the economy of the local area. The hotel will be situated just five minutes from the airport, and will target the growing number of business travellers and visitors who use the airport as a gateway to Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland. The hotel will be based on a high quality contemporary design and will be constructed from stone, render, zinc and glass. A three-storey office building of a similar design will be built next door to the hotel.

Now that the plans have been passed, the developers, Ratho ParkVentures, are looking to set up a partnership deal with a major hotel chain and it is hoped that the hotel will be open for business at the end of next year. The multi million pound hotel is the third in a series of recently submitted plans to provide new accommodation for the airport. It follows hot on the heels of the Quality Hotel and the Hilton Hotel building projects. According to Alan Henderson, a recent study has indicated that there is a shortage of hotel accommodation in the West side of the city where the airport is situated. It has been estimated that an extra 550 rooms are needed by 2010 and up to a thousand on top of that by 2013 to cope with the growing number of travellers passing through the airport.

It was announced a few days ago that Stagecoach Bus Company has made a pledge to plant 140,000 new trees along one of its bus routes, as a way of offsetting carbon emissions. The scheme proposes to save 21,500 tonnes in Carbon Dioxide emissions given off by Stagecoach buses each year along the Fife-Edinburgh route. Over the next five years the trees (a mixture of conifer, broadleaf and native woodlands) will be planted along various stages of the route, including Edinburgh airport, where they will be seen by the five million passengers who pass through the airport annually. More trees will be planted at the Gyle shopping centre, Edinburgh Park, Riccarton, Granton and Leith, covering a total area of 60 hectares, the amount needed to absorb the carbon emissions produced by the buses until 2013. Speaking about the plans, Brian Souter, Stagecoach Group Chief Executive, said: “This is an extremely exciting initiative, which is setting the standard for greener, smarter bus travel and helping our customers reduce their own carbon footprint.”

The initiative comes after a recent research conducted at the airport revealed that more air pollution had been found around the car parks and approach roads of the airport than around the main airfield itself. The new plans have been welcomed by environmental activists who, in March this year, also welcomed a new carbon friendly car parking service at the airport (for more information about car parking at Edinburgh airport please visit our Airport Parking Shop). The project works to ensure that all emissions given out from secure parking at the airport and transfer buses are offset by investments in environmental projects set up by the World Land Trust.