Edinburgh Airport

Edinburgh Airport Port-adhair Dhùn Èideann
IATA: EDI ICAO: EGPH
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Global Infrastructure Partners
Operator	Edinburgh Airport Ltd.
Serves	Edinburgh
Location	Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Hub for	West Atlantic
Focus city for	BA CityFlyer easyJet Jet2.com Loganair Ryanair
Elevation  AMSL	136 ft / 41 m
Coordinates	55°57′00″N003°22′21″W / 55.95000°N 3.37250°W / 55.95000; -3.37250
Website	www.edinburghairport.com
Map
EGPH Location in Edinburgh
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 06/24 2,556 8,386 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Passengers 11,250,211 Passenger change 21-22 272% Aircraft movements 93,004 Movements change 21-22 136%
Sources: UK AIP at NATS [1] Statistics from the UK Civil Aviation Authority [2]

Edinburgh Airport (Scottish Gaelic : Port-adhair Dhùn Èideann) ( IATA : EDI, ICAO : EGPH) is an airport located in the Ingliston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2019, handling over 14.7 million passengers. It was also the sixth-busiest airport in the United Kingdom by total passengers in 2019, and second-busiest outside London (behind Manchester). ^{[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.

History

Early years

Main article: RAF Turnhouse

"Map of Air Routes and Landing Places in Great Britain, as temporarily arranged by the Air Ministry for civilian flying", published in 1919, shows Turnhouse as a "military and civil station".

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 airstrip.

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

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

Post Second World War

When the war ended the airfield remained under military control. It was officially opened for commercial traffic on 19 May 1947. The first commercial flight to use the airport was a British European Airways service from London (Northolt) to Shetland, with Edinburgh and Aberdeen being intermediate stopping points. The aircraft was an 18-seat Douglas C47. ^[7]

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

BAA ownership 1971 to 2012

Aerial view of Edinburgh Airport

Departure gate area

Air Traffic Control tower

The British Airports Authority (BAA) took over ownership of the airport on 1 April 1971 at a time when the original terminal building was running at about eight times its design capacity. Immediate improvements to the terminal were cosmetic, such as extra seating and TV monitors for flight information, and it took two years for plans to be proposed for a completely new terminal and runway redesign. Public consultation on planning started in November 1971 and ended in February 1972. The initial stages of the redevelopment began in June 1973; they included a diversion of the River Almond. Work on the new terminal building, designed by Sir Robert Matthew, started in March 1975, and the building was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 27 May 1977, ^[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 direct service to Dublin, but for many years international flights were charter and private only. This started to change during the late 1970s, with direct services to continental Europe (Amsterdam, 1975). By the mid-1980s direct routes included Paris, Düsseldorf, Brussels, Frankfurt and Copenhagen, but direct transatlantic flights were not yet possible as Glasgow-Prestwick was the only "designated gateway" in Scotland under the US-UK Bermuda II Agreement. ^[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 for £10m. An extension to the terminal called the South East Pier opened in September 2006. This extension initially added six gates on a new pier to the southeast of the original building. A further four gates were added to the South East Pier at the end of 2008.

On 19 October 2011, BAA Limited announced its intention to sell the airport, following a decision by the UK's Competition Commission requiring BAA to sell either Glasgow Airport or Edinburgh Airport. ^[12] BAA announced on 23 April 2012 that it had sold Edinburgh Airport to Global Infrastructure Partners for a price of £807.2 million, equivalent to £1014 million in 2021. ^[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 Edinburgh Trams opening in May 2014 created the first rail connection to Edinburgh Airport. Whilst the number of passengers has increased, the number of flights decreased in 2014 due to planes operating at a higher capacity. ^[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 6,000 m² building, housing a security hall and retail areas, is also currently underway 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 and more services on its popular European destinations. In February 2016, consultancy firm Biggar Economics announced that Edinburgh Airport contributes almost £1 billion annually to the Scottish economy. ^[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 flights to and from Edinburgh: ^[17]

Airlines	Destinations
Aegean Airlines	Athens
Aer Lingus	Belfast–City, Dublin
Air Canada	Toronto–Pearson
Air France	Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Atlantic Airways	Vágar
BH Air	Seasonal: Burgas
British Airways	London–City, London–Heathrow Seasonal: Chambéry, Florence, Ibiza (begins 3 June 2023), [18] Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Southampton
Brussels Airlines	Brussels
Delta Air Lines	New York–JFK Seasonal: Atlanta, Boston
easyJet	Alicante, Amsterdam, Basel/Mulhouse, Belfast–International, Berlin, Birmingham, Bristol, Copenhagen, Geneva, Hamburg, Kraków, Lanzarote, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, London–Stansted, Lyon, Madrid, Milan–Malpensa, Munich, Naples, Paphos, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Reykjavik–Keflavik, Tenerife–South, Venice Seasonal: Antalya (begins 3 June 2023), [19] Athens, Bodrum, Catania (begins 2 June 2023), [20] Corfu, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Fuerteventura, Grenoble, Heraklion, Jersey, Kefalonia, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Prague, Rhodes, Santorini (begins 6 June 2023) [21]
Edelweiss Air	Zürich
Eurowings	Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf
Finnair	Helsinki
Hainan Airlines	Seasonal: Beijing–Capital (resumes 26 June 2023) [22]
Iberia Express	Seasonal: Madrid (resumes 18 June 2023) [23]
Jet2.com	Alicante, Antalya, Fuerteventura, Funchal, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Málaga, Tenerife–South Seasonal: Bodrum, Corfu, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Faro, Geneva, Heraklion, Ibiza, Innsbruck, İzmir, Kos, Larnaca, Menorca, Naples, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Preveza/Lefkada, Reus, Reykjavík-Keflavík, Rhodes, Salzburg, Santorini, Skiathos, Split, Thessaloniki, Turin, Verona, Zakynthos
KLM	Amsterdam
Loganair	Bergen, Cardiff, Exeter, Isle of Man, Kirkwall, Southampton, Stornoway, Sumburgh Seasonal: Newquay, Stavanger
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Munich
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda
Qatar Airways	Doha
Ryanair	Alicante, Barcelona, Bari, Beauvais, Belfast–International, Bergamo, Berlin, Billund, Bologna, Bratislava, Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Charleroi, Copenhagen, Cork, Dublin, Eindhoven, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gdańsk, Gothenburg, Gran Canaria, Hamburg, Kaunas, Knock, Kraków, Lanzarote, Lisbon, London–Stansted, Madrid, Málaga, Malta, Marrakesh, Marseille, Nantes, Naples, Palermo, Pisa, Poitiers, Porto, Poznań, Prague, Riga, Rome–Ciampino, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Shannon, Sofia, Tenerife–South, Toulouse, Turin, Valencia, Vienna, Warsaw–Modlin, Weeze, Wroclaw Seasonal: Béziers, Bordeaux, Bournemouth, Carcassonne, Corfu, Grenoble, Ibiza, Newquay (begins 4 June 2023), [24] Nîmes, Palma de Mallorca, Rhodes, Venice, Verona, Zadar
Scandinavian Airlines	Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda Seasonal: Copenhagen
SunExpress	Antalya Seasonal: İzmir (begins 29 August 2023) [25]
Transavia	Rotterdam/The Hague Seasonal: Paris–Orly
TUI Airways	Seasonal: Cancún, Chambéry, Corfu, Dalaman, Innsbruck, Melbourne/Orlando, Tenerife–South
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul
United Airlines	Newark Seasonal: Chicago–O'Hare, Washington–Dulles
Virgin Atlantic	Seasonal: Orlando
Vueling	Barcelona
WestJet	Seasonal: Calgary
Wizz Air	Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest Seasonal: Gdańsk

Statistics

Passenger Numbers

Edinburgh Airport Passenger Totals. See Wikidata query.

	Number of passengers [nb 1]	Number of aircraft 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	4,214,919	99,352
1998	4,588,507	100,134
1999	5,119,258	101,226
2000	5,519,372	102,393
2001	6,067,333	112,361
2002	6,930,649	118,416
2003	7,481,454	118,943
2004	8,017,547	125,317
2005	8,456,739	127,122
2006	8,611,345	126,914
2007	9,047,558	128,172
2008	9,006,702	125,550
2009	9,049,355	115,969
2010	8,596,715	108,997
2011	9,385,245	113,357
2012	9,195,061	110,288
2013	9,775,443	111,736
2014	10,160,004	109,545
2015	11,114,587	115,286
2016	12,348,425	122,220
2017	13,410,256	128,675
2018	14,310,403	130,016
2019	14,747,830	131,617
2020	3,478,501	45,966
2021	3,024,960	34,165
2022	11,250,211	93,004
Source:United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority [26]

Busiest routes

The changes shown in the table are from an exceptionally low base, due to COVID.

Busiest international routes from EDI (2022)

Rank	Destination	Passengers	Change 2021 to 2022
1	Dublin	572,050	263%
2	Amsterdam	471,698	259%
3	Paris-Charles de Gaulle	307,322	398%
4	Tenerife-South	285,021	314%
5	Alicante	210,523	382%
6	Frankfurt	192,170	359%
7	Palma de Mallorca	190,095	392%
8	Copenhagen	180,360	504%
9	Barcelona	179,948	397%
10	Málaga	170,871	421%
11	Berlin	166,917	556%
12	Geneva	158,898	1032%
13	Lanzarote	151,160	367%
14	Faro	145,505	415%
15	Doha	144,895	440%
16	Madrid	144,702	509%
17	Cork	131,059	5155%
18	Budapest	126,147	350%
19	Kraków	121,364	244%
20	Oslo	107,927	701%
Source: CAA Statistics [27]

Access and ground transport

Airlink 100 bus on Waverley Bridge

Edinburgh Gateway station interchange stop

Edinburgh Airport tram terminus

v t e Transport at Edinburgh Airport
Legend
to Glasgow to Fife & to Dundee 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

Several operators provide bus services from the airport:

• Lothian Buses provides public transportation to the airport and Edinburgh. ^[28]
• McGill's Scotland East provides public transportation to the airport and West Lothian with one service. ^[29]
• Stagecoach East Scotland provides public transportation to the airport and Fife with one service. ^[30]
• Xplore Dundee provides public transport to the airport from Dundee. ^[31]
• Citylink provides public transportation to the airport from Glasgow and Stirling. ^[32]

Road

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

Train

The airport has no dedicated railway station. However, it is served by the nearby Edinburgh Gateway station, which serves as an interchange with Edinburgh Trams services to the airport. ^[33] The tram line also connects the airport to the nearby Edinburgh Park railway station. ^[34]

A more expensive Edinburgh Airport Rail Link project to provide a direct heavy rail link was cancelled in 2007 due to increasing costs. ^[35]

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. ^{[36] [37]}

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 declared dead on arrival at the hospital. The probable cause of the crash was thought to be the application of an incorrect rudder following a simulated engine failure on take-off. The reason for this application of an incorrect rudder has not been determined. ^{[38] [39]}

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 the hospital the following day. ^[40]

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. ^{[41] [42]}

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. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
4. "Airport data 2018 - UK Civil Aviation Authority". 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.
6. "EDI Facts and figures". Edinburgh Airport. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2016.
7. "Edinburgh's Airport Opened: Direct London-Shetland Air Link". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. 20 May 1947. p. 5.
8. "Queen will be first to use air terminal". The Glasgow Herald. 27 May 1977. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
9. "Agreement Between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the United States of America Concerning Air Services" (PDF). 24 July 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2011.
10. Edinburgh Airport: A History; McCloskey, Keith; 2006
11. "Site Record for Edinburgh, RAF Turnhouse". Canmore. RCAHMS. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
12. "Heathrow: About us – Heathrow". Baa.com. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
13. Heathrow. "Press Releases". Baa.com. Archived from the original on 11 May 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2012.
14. ^ CAA: UK Annual Airport Statistics
15. "Edinburgh Airport hails record year". BBC News . 11 January 2016. Archived from the original on 24 November 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
16. "Edinburgh Airport Brings in the Bucks". Airport Parking Market. 26 April 2016. Archived from the original on 13 May 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
17. "Flight timetables - Edinburgh Airport". Edinburghairport.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2019.
18. https://www.tui.co.uk/flight/timetable ^{[ bare URL ]}
19. "EASYJET NS23 NETWORK ADDITIONS SUMMARY – 30JAN23". Aeroroutes. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
20. "EASYJET NS23 NETWORK ADDITIONS – 11DEC22". Aeroroutes. 12 December 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2022.
21. "Home". mediacentre.easyjet.com.
22. https://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/23514890.edinburgh-airport-beijing-china-direct-flight-launch/
23. "IBERIA EXPRESS RESUMES EDINBURGH SERVICE IN NS23". Aero Routes. Aero Routes. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
24. Ltd, Jacobs Media Group. "Ryanair adds Newquay-Edinburgh service to summer schedule". Travel Weekly.
25. "SunExpress Plots UK Growth". Routes.
26. "UK airport data | Civil Aviation Authority". www.caa.co.uk.
27. "Annual airport data 2022". www.caa.co.uk. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
28. "Airport Services - Lothian Buses". Lothian Buses. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
29. https://www.firstgroup.com/south-east-and-central-scotland/routes-and-maps/21a-edinburgh-airport ^{[ permanent dead link ]}
30. "JET 747 Edinburgh Airport Bus - Stagecoach". Stagecoachbus.com. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
31. "X90 to Edinburgh Airport | Xplore Dundee". nxbus.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
32. "Citylink :: Connecting Scotland". Citylink.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
33. "New Edinburgh Gateway interchange opens in capital". Archived from the original on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
34. "Trains". Edinburgh Airport. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
35. "MSPs back new airport rail link". 14 March 2007. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2019– via news.bbc.co.uk.
36. "Edinburgh's trams roll into action". BBC News. Archived from the original on 19 October 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
37. "Route map". Edinburgh Trams. 2009. Archived from the original on 18 September 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
38. "HS 125 Series 3B G-AXPS Report on the accident at Turnhouse Airport Edinburgh on 20 July 1970" (PDF). Assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
39. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Hawker Siddeley HS-125-3B G-AXPS Edinburgh-Turnhouse Airport (EDI)". aviation-safety.net.
40. Ranter, Harro. "Accident de Havilland DH.94 Moth Minor G-AFOZ, 03 May 1975". aviation-safety.net.
41. Scotsman: Pilots praised as sheriff confirms snow caused crash Archived 20 September 2004 at the Wayback Machine , News.scotsman.com, 13 November 2003
42. Harro Ranter (27 February 2001). "ASN Aircraft accident Shorts 360-100 G-BNMT Granton Harbour". Aviation-safety.net. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 5 March 2009.

External links

• Official website
• EDINBURGH AIRPORT, TURNHOUSE (1971) (archive film from the National Library of Scotland: SCOTTISH SCREEN ARCHIVE)
• Current weather for EGPH at NOAA / NWS
• Accident history for EDI at Aviation Safety Network