Edinburgh Airport

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Edinburgh Airport
Port-adhair Dhùn Èideann
EdinburghAirport.svg
Edinburgh Airport - Taxi rank.jpg
IATA: EDI – ICAO: EGPH
Summary
Airport type Public
Owner Global Infrastructure Partners
Operator Edinburgh Airport Ltd.
Serves Edinburgh, Lothian, Fife, the Scottish Borders and Central Scotland
Location Ingliston
Elevation AMSL 136 ft / 41 m
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Website edinburghairport.com
Map
EGPH is located in Edinburgh
EGPH
EGPH
Location in Edinburgh
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06/24 2,556 8,386 Asphalt
12/30 1,797 5,896 Asphalt
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 10,160,004
Passenger change 13–14 Increase3.9%
Aircraft movements 109,545
Movements change 13–14 Decrease2.0%
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 at Ingliston in the City of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2014, handling just under 10.2 million passengers in that year. It was also the sixth busiest airport in the UK by total passengers as of 2014.[3] It is located Lua error in Module:Convert at line 272: attempt to index local 'cat' (a nil value).[1] west of the city centre and is situated just off the M8 motorway. Edinburgh Airport offers over 140 destinations worldwide by over 40 airlines.

The airport is owned and operated by Global Infrastructure Partners, which also owns and operates Gatwick Airport and London City Airport.[4]

History

Early years

Turnhouse Aerodrome was the most northerly British air defence base in World War I used by the Royal Flying Corps. The small base opened in 1915 and it was used to house the 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron from 1925, which consisted of DH 9As, Westland Wapitis, Hawker Harts, and Hawker Hind light bombers. All the aircraft used a grass air strip.

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

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, Nos No.3 Squadron RAF3, 65, and 141 Squadrons were present at the airbase.

Post World War II

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

In 1952 the runway was extended to 6000 ft to handle the Vampire FB5s operated by the based 603 Squadron; and an aircraft carrier Catcher Net (never used) was installed to protect traffic on the adjacent A8 road. In 1956 a new passenger terminal was built to offer improved commercial service and five years later it was extended. After the disbandment of 603 Squadron in March 1957, the Ministry of Defence transferred ownership to the Ministry of Aviation in 1960 to offer improved commercial service to the airport. Flying was temporarily diverted to East Fortune, which had its runway extended to accommodate the airliners of the period.

BAA Ownership 1971 to 2012

Aerial view of Edinburgh Airport
Departure gate area

The British Airports Authority took over ownership of the airport on April 1, 1971 at a time when the original terminal building was running at about eight times its design capacity. Though immediately improvements to the terminal were cosmetic, such as extra seating and TV monitors for flight information introduced, it took a couple of years for plans to be proposed for a completely new terminal and runway redesign. A public consultation on planning started in November 1971 and ended in February 1972. Initial stages of the redevelopment began in June 1973, which included a diversion of the River Almond. Work on the new terminal building, designed by Sir Robert Matthew, was started in March 1975 and opened officially by Her Majesty the Queen on 27 May 1977, 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 had the disadvantage of suffering from severe crosswinds and the other two minor runways were very short and could not be readily extended, so movements were transferred to a new runway (07/25 which has since become 06/24) in an addition completely outside the original airfield boundary. This runway, completed in 1977 is 2,556 m (8,386 ft) in length, and was able to take all modern airliners including Concorde. A new terminal was built alongside the runway to cater for the additional traffic. The old terminal and hangars were converted into a cargo centre.

International service from Edinburgh began in 1962 with a direct service to Dublin, but for many years international flights were charter and private only. This started to changed during the late 1970s with direct services to continental Europe (Amsterdam, 1975,). By the mid-1980s direct routes included Paris, Dusseldorf, Brussels, Frankfurt and Copenhagen but until the Open Skies Act in 1990, all transatlantic flights had to first land at Prestwick, with very few exceptions. By the time BAA had been privatised in 1987, Edinburgh Airport handled over 1.8 million passengers each year; this was treble the number of 681,000 passengers handled in 1971 when BAA first took control of the airport.[5]

RAF Turnhouse which was operational near the passenger terminal of the airport for all of the post war period, was finally closed in 1997.[6]

Since the original terminal upgrade in 1977, there have been major reconstructions, including extensions of the two passenger terminal aprons and major expansion car parking facilities, including a multi storey car park in 2004. In 2005, a new 57 m (187 ft) tall air traffic control tower was completed at a cost of £10m (€16m). An extension to the terminal opened in September 2006 called the "South East Pier". This extension initially added six gates on a new pier to the South-East of the original building. A further four gates were added to the South East Pier at the end of 2008.

On 19 October 2011, BAA Limited announced its intention to sell the airport, following a decision by the UK's Competition Commission requiring BAA to sell either Glasgow International or Edinburgh Airport.[7] BAA announced on 23 April 2012 that it had sold Edinburgh Airport to Global Infrastructure Partners for a price of £807.2 million.[8]

Expansion

Passenger traffic at Edinburgh Airport reached a record level in 2013 with nearly 10.2 million passengers and over 111,000 aircraft movements.[3] In 2013, a further extension to the passenger terminal was announced, taking the terminal building up to the Edinburgh Airport tram stop. The opening of the Edinburgh Trams in May 2014 created the first rail connection to Edinburgh Airport.

Whilst the number of passengers has increased, the number of flights has actually seen a decrease in 2014 due to planes operating at higher capacity.[9]

Terminal

Edinburgh Airport features a single, two-storey passenger terminal building. The ground level features the driveway area, 47 check-in desks (00-46) as well as the domestic and international arrivals area, several service counters and some shops. The upper floor contains the security control, a central airside waiting area with several shops as well as 11 departure gates (1–7 and 9–12). 11 additional gates (13–23) are located in a connected pier building to the east.[10] 7 gates in the main building are equipped with jet-bridges, all others feature walk-boarding.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines Destinations
Aer Lingus Regional
operated by Stobart Air		 Cork, Dublin, Shannon (resumes 28 March 2016)[11]
Air Canada Rouge Seasonal: Toronto-Pearson
Air France
operated by HOP!		 Paris-Charles de Gaulle
American Airlines Seasonal: New York–JFK[12]
Atlantic Airways Vágar[13]
Austrian Airlines Seasonal charter: Innsbruck
BH Air Seasonal charter: Burgas
British Airways London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow
British Airways
operated by BA CityFlyer		 London-City
Seasonal charter:[14] Alicante, Barcelona, Chambéry, Faro, Ibiza, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Toulouse, Venice-Marco Polo[15]
Brussels Airlines Brussels
Czech Airlines Łódź, Prague, Rzeszów[16]
Delta Air Lines New York–JFK (resumes 27 May 2016)[17]
easyJet Alicante, Amsterdam, Athens, Basel/Mulhouse, Belfast-International, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bristol, Copenhagen, Funchal, Geneva, Hamburg, Kraków, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Lyon, Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Paphos, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Reykjavik-Keflavik, Stuttgart,[18] Tenerife-South, Venice-Marco Polo (begins 3 February 2016),[19] Vienna (begins 6 February 2016)[20]
Seasonal: Bodrum, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Grenoble, Crete, Naples, Nice, Palma de Mallorca
Edelweiss Air Seasonal: Zürich[21]
Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi
Eurowings Seasonal: Düsseldorf (begins 27 March 2016)[22]
Finnair Seasonal: Helsinki (begins 18 April 2016)[23]
Flybe Belfast-City, Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands, Exeter, Knock (begins 28 March 2016),[24] Liverpool, London-City, Manchester, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Southampton
Seasonal: Bergerac, Jersey, Newquay[25]
Seasonal charter: Geneva, Innsbruck
Flybe
operated by Loganair		 Kirkwall, Norwich, Stornoway, Sumburgh, Wick
Freebird Airlines Seasonal charter: Antalya
Germanwings Cologne/Bonn[26]
Iberia Express Madrid[27]
Jet2.com Budapest, Gran Canaria (begins 15 February 2016), Lanzarote (begins 14 February 2016), Tenerife South (begins 12 February 2016)[28]
Seasonal: Alicante, Antalya (begins 23 June 2016),[29] Chambéry,[30] Dalaman (begins 24 June 2016), Dubrovnik, Faro, Geneva,[30] Heraklion, Ibiza, Kefalonia (begins 25 May 2016), Larnaca (begins 25 May 2016), Málaga, Menorca, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos (begins 22 June 2016), Pula, Reus, Rhodes (begins 25 June 2016), Salzburg,[30] Split,[31] Venice-Marco Polo, Verona,[32] Vienna (begins 29 April 2016), Zakynthos (begins 31 May 2016)
Seasonal charter: Geneva
KLM Amsterdam
KLM
operated by KLM Cityhopper		 Amsterdam
Lufthansa Frankfurt
Norwegian Air Shuttle Copenhagen, Malaga, Oslo-Gardermoen, Tenerife-South [33][34]
Seasonal: Stockholm-Arlanda,
Qatar Airways Doha
Ryanair Alicante, Barcelona,[35] Charleroi, Copenhagen,[36] Dublin, Faro, Fuerteventura, Gdańsk, Hahn, Kraków, Lanzarote, London-Stansted, Málaga, Malta, Moss, Rome-Ciampino, Santander, Tenerife-South, Weeze
Seasonal: Béziers, Bologna, Bordeaux, Bratislava, Bremen, Corfu, Gothenburg-Landvetter, Gran Canaria,[35] Kaunas, Marseille, Palma de Mallorca, Pisa, Poitiers, Poznań
Scandinavian Airlines Copenhagen, Stockholm-Arlanda
Seasonal: Oslo-Gardermoen[37]
Thomson Airways Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Sharm el-Sheikh (suspended),[38] Tenerife-South
Seasonal: Alicante, Cancún, Corfu, Dalaman, Enfidha, Geneva, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Larnaca (begins 4 May 2016), Orlando-Sanford, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos,[39] Rhodes (begins 3 May 2016)
Transavia France Paris-Orly (begins 22 April 2016)[40]
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk
United Airlines Newark
Seasonal: Chicago-O'Hare[41]
Vueling Barcelona
Seasonal: Alicante (begins 16 June 2016), Paris-Orly (begins 29 March 2016), Rome-Fiumicino (begins 29 March 2016)[42]

Cargo

Airlines Destinations
DHL Aviation East Midlands
Jet2.com
operated for Royal Mail		 East Midlands, London-Stansted
Loganair
operated for Royal Mail		 Aberdeen, Inverness
Titan Airways
operated for Royal Mail		 London-Stansted
TNT Airways Liege, East Midlands
Star Air (Maersk)
operated for UPS Airlines		 Cologne/Bonn, East Midlands

Statistics

Passenger numbers

Number of Passengers[3] Number of Movements[43] Edinburgh Airport Passenger Totals
1985–2014 (millions)
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 Source: These statistics are combined BAA and CAA figures pre-1996, Edinburgh Airport: A History; McCloskey, Keith. Post 1996: United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority[44]

Busiest routes

Busiest domestic routes (2014)
Rank Airport Passengers handled  % change
2013/14
1 London-Heathrow 1,472,812 Increase 9
2 London-Gatwick 690,363 Steady 0
3 London-City 352,313 Increase 6
4 London-Stansted 360,251 Increase 10
5 Bristol 322,760 Increase 6
6 Birmingham 284,021 Steady 0
7 London-Luton 259,670 Decrease 5
8 Belfast-International 235,552 Decrease 4
9 Southampton 203,151 Decrease 2
10 Belfast-City 142,304 Increase 11
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority[3]
Busiest international routes (2014)
Rank Airport Passengers handled % change
2013/14
1 Amsterdam 601,535 Increase 7
2 Dublin 478,388 Increase 16
3 Paris-Charles de Gaulle 303,647 Increase 9
4 Frankfurt am Main 197,221 Increase 15
5 Geneva 153,766 Increase 2
6 Alicante 143,891 Decrease 6
7 Palma de Mallorca 143,178 Steady 0
8 Newark 142,526 Increase 6
9 Tenerife South 132,797 Increase 4
10 Malaga 128,095 Increase 1
11 Copenhagen 121,349 Decrease 4
12 Milan-Malpensa 112,101 Increase 13
13 Kraków 109,805 Decrease 4
14 Madrid 107,118 Decrease 5
15 Faro 103,782 Increase 4
16 Istanbul 93,029 Increase 32
17 Brussels 89,642 Decrease 4
18 Munich 89,268 Increase 1
19 Basel 80,861 Increase 27
20 Barcelona 80,538 Decrease 2
Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority[3]

Access and ground transportation

Road

Lothian Buses Airlink 100 airport express bus to Edinburgh

The airport lies on the A8 Glasgow-Edinburgh road, and can be easily reached by the M8 (from Glasgow) and the M9 (from Stirling). The airport is also within easy access from the M90 motorway (from Perth) via the Forth Road Bridge.

Lothian Buses provide public transportation to the airport with the Airlink 100 express bus from Edinburgh city centre,[45] as well as the number 35 direct to Ocean Terminal and N22 with the same destination but alternative route. Additionally, Stagecoach operates the newly formed JET express bus service, previously AirDirect 747 between the airport and Inverkeithing railway station and Ferrytoll Park and Ride in Fife.[46]

Tram

Edinburgh Airport tram terminus

The airport is served by Edinburgh Trams, a light rail link from the terminal to Edinburgh city centre. The system runs from Edinburgh Airport tram stop and travels across the western suburbs of Edinburgh on a segregated track; when the trams reach Haymarket railway station they switch to street-running mode and travel through the city along Princes Street. Edinburgh Trams began operation on 31 May 2014.[47][48]

Train

There are currently no direct rail links to Edinburgh Airport, although it lies very close to the Fife Circle and the Edinburgh-Glasgow railway lines. A project to build the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link was cancelled in 2007 after a change in Government.[49]

As a cheaper alternative to the cancelled Edinburgh Airport Rail Link project, an additional interchange station is currently being constructed on the Fife Circle Line. Edinburgh International Gateway station which will provide an interchange with airport tram services. This station and upgrades were finally approved by the Scottish Parliament in 2012.[50] The station is expected to open by December 2016.

Accidents and incidents

  • 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, and there were no passengers on board. A fatal accident inquiry later blamed a buildup of slush in the aircraft's engines before the crash. Protective covering had not been fitted to the engine intakes while the aircraft was parked for several hours in heavy snow at Edinburgh.[51][52]

Accolades

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ CAA: UK Annual Airport Statistics
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Number of Passengers, Freight and Mail include both domestic and international counterparts.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Edinburgh Airport: A History; McCloskey, Keith; 2006
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ ^ CAA: UK Annual Airport Statistics
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ http://utv.ie/News/2015/12/06/Edinburgh-route-restored-from-Shannon-Airport-50137
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Delta resumes JFK to Edinburgh Flights
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ http://airlineroute.net/2015/10/09/u2-vce-w15/
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ New Edelweiss route in S14
  22. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-34672249
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ http://www.jet2.com/timetable
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Archived 15 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Norwegian Bookable flights for July 2016
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  36. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  37. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ http://flights.thomson.co.uk/thomson/en-GB/timetable/findbyroute?departure=EDI&destination=PFO
  40. ↑ http://flights.edinburghairport.com//en-GB/#/result?originplace=EDI&destinationplace=ORY&outbounddate=2016-05-02&inbounddate=2016-05-09&cabinclass=Economy&adults=1&children=0&infants=0
  41. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  42. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  43. ↑ Number of Movements represents total aircraft takeoffs and landings during that year.
  44. ↑ UK Airport Statistics
  45. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  50. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  51. ↑ Scotsman: Pilots praised as sheriff confirms snow caused crash, 13 November 2003
  52. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  53. ↑ "ASQ Award for Best Airport in Europe" Airports Council International. 14 February 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2012

External links

Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons

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