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Edinburgh Airport

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Edinburgh Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorBAA Limited
ServesEdinburgh
Elevation AMSL136 ft / 41 m
Coordinates55°57′00″N 003°22′21″W / 55.95000°N 3.37250°W / 55.95000; -3.37250
Websitewww.edinburghairport.com
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
06/24 2,557 8,389 Asphalt
12/30 1,798 5,899 Asphalt
Source: UK AIP at NATS

Edinburgh Airport (IATA: EDI, ICAO: EGPH) is located in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the seventh-largest airport in the UK.[1] It is located 8 statute miles (13 km) west of the city centre and is situated just off the M8 motorway.

Edinburgh Airport is owned by BAA Limited, the company which also owns London Heathrow, London Gatwick, London Stansted, Glasgow International, Aberdeen, and Southampton airports.

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 over 20 million per annum by 2030.

History

Turnhouse Aerodrome was the most northerly British air defence base in World War I. The small base opened in 1915 and it was used to house the 603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron, 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 World War II broke out, fighter command took control over the airfield and a runway of 3,900ft was paved to handle the Vickers Supermarine Spitfire.

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 Viscounts.

View of the control tower from the terminal building

In 1952 the runway was extended to 6000ft to handle the Vampire FB5s. 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. In 1971 the British Airports Authority took over the airport and immediately started to expand it by building a new runway and terminal.

Although the original runway 13/31 (which is now 12/30) served the airport well, its alignment had the disadvantage of suffering from severe crosswinds, so movements were transferred to a new runway (07/25, which is has since become 06/24). This runway, completed in 1977 is 8399ft in length, and was able to take all modern airliners. A new terminal was built alongside the runway to cater for the additional traffic. The old terminal and hangars were converted into a cargo center.

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.

Airlines and destinations

Destinations with direct service from Edinburgh.

Future plans

There are plans to expand Edinburgh airport by adding a further runway, although this is unlikely to be required within the next 20 years. 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.

Edinburgh Airport is easily reached by the M9 and M90 motorways and is close to the Fife Circle and Edinburgh-Glasgow railway lines. In 2003 the Scottish Executive announced plans to build the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link. The proposed Edinburgh Tram Network was expected to connect to Edinburgh Airport when complete in 2011, however, the plans were cancelled by the Scottish Parliament. Currently express bus services link the airport to Edinburgh City Centre by airlink 100,[2] to Inverkeithing railway station and Ferrytoll Park and Ride in Fife by service 747,[3] to Edinburgh Park, Sighthill, Fountainbridge, Holyrood and Leith by service 35[4] and to Livingston by service 555/777.[5][6] In 2005, Martin Kay, popular dance music artist, moved to the area and is arguably the closest house to the airport. This decision was due to music production not causing noise pollution in an already polluted area

The Airport is also lobbying the City of Edinburgh Council to construct an access road from the Gogar roundabout in an attempt to relieve congestion on the busy approach road. They are also urging the Scottish Executive to construct a direct link road from the M8 motorway.

An extension to the terminal opened in September 2006. This added six gates on a new pier to the northeast of the earlier building. In the long term BAA projects that by 2030 Edinburgh Airport will be Scotland's busiest, handling 26 million passengers per year.

In July 2007 BAA announced it would be expanding the current departures hall to add extra waiting areas, shops and restaurants for the increase in passengers. Also it would extend the south east pier to add three more gates to increase cappacity , but it is rumored that these will be for large aircraft. BAA also plans to resurface the runway, all of these new constructions are part of BAAs £1 billion investment in the airport to cater for the expected trebiling of passenger numbers in the next 20 years.

Accidents

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 build up of slush in the aircraft's engines for 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.

References


Template:ScottishAirports

55°57′00″N 003°22′21″W / 55.95000°N 3.37250°W / 55.95000; -3.37250

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