Passenger numbers at Scotland’s airports have continued to grow this summer.
A total of 746,000 people passed through Glasgow Airport during August, a rise of 6% compared with the same month last year. The airport had its busiest summer since 2008 with almost 2.4 million passengers over June, July and August.
Meanwhile the number of people using Aberdeen International Airport grew by 3.5% over the month, to 312,200.
Glasgow Airport’s growth was attributed to airlines adding extra capacity as well as high-profile events such as the World Pipe Band Championships being held in the city.
Managing director Amanda McMillan said: “We enjoyed an extremely busy summer with more than 125,000 additional passengers using the airport during June, July and August compared to the same period last year.
“Not only was it our busiest summer in five years, it was one of our best in terms of operational performance. Despite the significant increase in numbers and a host of large-scale events, 99.4% of our passengers passed through security in less than 10 minutes during the summer months.”
Helicopter traffic at Aberdeen fell 11.5% on the previous year, a result of the Super Puma helicopter crash off Shetland last month in which four oil workers died.
Carol Benzie, the airport’s commercial director, said: “As one of the worlds’ busiest heliports, the sad events of the 23rd August impacted on the whole airport community and our thoughts go out to the families involved.
“We are working closely with all of the on-site helicopter operators to understand the challenges that they are going to be facing in coming weeks and months.
“The beginning of September saw the city enjoy a very successful Offshore Europe (conference) and the airport operation coped well with the influx of visitors to the region. Whilst the total numbers are still to be released, initial estimates suggest it may be another record breaker.”
Edinburgh Airport, officially Scotland’s busiest, had more than a million passengers in August, the second month in a row in which the milestone was reached.
It recorded 1,082,938 people passing through its doors in July.