Edinburgh Airport (Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Dhùn Èideann) (IATA: EDI, ICAO: EGPH) is located at Turnhouse in the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, and was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2011, handling just under 9.4 million passengers in that year. It was also the sixth busiest airport in the UK by passengers and the fifth busiest by aircraft movements.^[2] It is located 5 nautical miles (9.3 km; 5.8 mi)^[1] west of the city centre and is situated just off the M8 motorway.

The airport is owned and operated by BAA, which also owns and operates five other UK airports,^[3] and is itself owned by FGP TopCo Limited, an international consortium, which includes Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and GIC Special Investments, that is led by the Spanish Ferrovial Group.^[4]

The present terminal building, designed by Robert Matthew, was constructed in 1977 and has been upgraded in recent years, with new car parking facilities and an extended arrivals hall. A new control tower was completed in 2005.

There are plans for expansion of the airport, with passenger numbers expected to reach 26 million per annum by 2030.

On 19th October 2011, BAA Limited announced that it intends to sell Edinburgh Airport, following a decision by the UK's Competition Commission requiring BAA to sell either Glasgow or Edinburgh Airport.^[5]

History

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 Vickers Supermarine Spitfire. During the Battle of Britain, Nos 3, 65, and 141 Squadrons were present at the airbase.

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; and an aircraft carrier Catcher Net (never used) 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. 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. In 1971 the British Airports Authority took over the airport and immediately started to expand it by constructing a new runway and terminal building.

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.

The only international services from Edinburgh during the 1980s were to Amsterdam and Dublin, but in the following years links were opened to destinations in France and Germany. By the end of the decade BAA had been privatised and funds were used to extend the current terminal building and create parking aprons.

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.

Airlines and destinations

Cargo airlines

Statistics

Passenger numbers

Passenger traffic at Edinburgh Airport increased each year between 1997 and 2007, after which numbers stabilised before dropping by 5.0% in 2010 to 8,596,715 with 108,997 aircraft movements recorded.^[2]

Busiest routes

Short range routes make up a significant proportion of flights at Edinburgh, data from the CAA shows that over 55% of passengers passing through the airport in 2010 travelled on flights within the UK and Ireland.^[2]

Access and ground transportation

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,^[8] as well as local bus services. 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, and the Gyle Shopping Centre and Heriot-Watt University.^[9]

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.^[10]

Transport links

Work is underway to construct a light rail link from the airport to Edinburgh city centre on the Edinburgh Trams network. The new system will run from an airport station across the western suburbs of Edinburgh on a segregated track; when the trams reach Haymarket railway station they will switch to street-running mode and travel through the city along Princes Street. Edinburgh Trams are expected to begin operation around 2011 or 2012.^[11]

As a cheaper alternative to the cancelled Edinburgh Airport Rail Link project, it has been proposed that an additional interchange station be constructed on the Fife Circle Line. Gogar railway station would provide interchange with airport tram services. This proposal has not yet been approved or funded.^[12]

Infrastructure

In April, 2008 work began on the resurfacing of the main runway. This project, at a cost of £16m,^[13] was due to be completed by the end of November, 2008 and will prolong the life of the runway for a further 15 years.^[14] In the end, the work was completed around 10 days ahead of schedule and on budget.^[15]

A £40m extension to the departure lounge has been built, work commenced in December, 2008.^[14]

£250m is to be spent on the airport over the next decade.^[14] BAA has made provision in its Master Plan for the airport for an extension to the current runway 06/24, which would allow larger aircraft to serve longer haul destinations. There are plans to expand further by adding a new runway and terminal by 2020 which would accommodate up to 20 million passengers per annum.^[16] BAA projects that by 2030 Edinburgh Airport will be handling 26 million passengers per annum. Development has recently begun at Edinburgh Airport on a £40 million departure lounge extension project which will see the current lounge double in size as well as a new security search area and a greater choice bars, restaurants and shops. The departure lounge opened on 18/11/09.^[17]

The likelihood of an additional runway has been thrown into doubt following a revised masterplan in January 2011, with passenger numbers expected to be lower than previously thought - 12.3 million by 2020 and 20 million by 2040.^[18]

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 build up 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.^[19][20]

References

External links

• Edinburgh Airport - Official website
• Edinburgh Airport Consultative Committee
• Edinburgh Airport Draft Masterplan - Official website
• EDINBURGH AIRPORT, TURNHOUSE (1971) (archive film from the National Library of Scotland: SCOTTISH SCREEN ARCHIVE)