Edinburgh Airport
Edinburgh Airport | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:Edinburgh Airport.png | |||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | Global Infrastructure Partners | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Edinburgh Airport Ltd. | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Edinburgh, Lothian, Fife, the Scottish Borders and Central Scotland | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Ingliston | ||||||||||||||
| Focus city for | |||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 136 ft / 41 m | ||||||||||||||
| Website | edinburghairport.com | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  EGPH Location in Edinburgh | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
| Statistics (2013) | |||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||
Edinburgh Airport (Scottish Gaelic: Port-adhair Dhùn Èideann) (IATA: EDI, ICAO: EGPH) is located at Ingliston in the City of Edinburgh, Scotland, and was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2013, handling just under 9.8 million passengers in that year. It was also the fifth busiest airport in the UK by total passengers.[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 Global Infrastructure Partners, which also owns and operates Gatwick Airport and London City Airport.[3]
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 3, 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.
Change of ownership
In 1971 the British Airports Authority took over the airport and immediately started to expand it by constructing a new runway and terminal building. RAF Turnhouse was finally closed in 1997.[4]
The present terminal building, designed by Sir Robert Matthew, was constructed in 1977 and has been upgraded in recent years, with new car parking facilities and an extended arrivals hall.
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.
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.[5] BAA announced on 23 April 2012 that it had sold Edinburgh Airport to Global Infrastructure Partners for a price of £807.2 million.[6]
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 will create the first rail connection to Edinburgh Airport.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
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 operated for UPS | East Midlands, Cologne/Bonn |
Statistics
Passenger numbers
Passenger traffic at Edinburgh Airport reached a record level in 2013 with nearly 9.8 million passengers and over 111,000 aircraft movements.[2]
| Number of Passengers[2] | Number of Movements[18] | Freight (tonnes)[2] |
Edinburgh Airport Passenger Totals 1997-2013 (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 4,214,919 | 99,352 | 27,548 |  |
| 1998 | 4,588,507 | 100,134 | 23,260 | |
| 1999 | 5,119,258 | 101,226 | 17,715 | |
| 2000 | 5,519,372 | 102,393 | 17,894 | |
| 2001 | 6,067,333 | 112,361 | 16,169 | |
| 2002 | 6,930,649 | 118,416 | 21,232 | |
| 2003 | 7,481,454 | 118,943 | 24,761 | |
| 2004 | 8,017,547 | 125,317 | 27,376 | |
| 2005 | 8,456,739 | 127,122 | 29,595 | |
| 2006 | 8,611,345 | 126,914 | 36,389 | |
| 2007 | 9,047,558 | 128,172 | 19,292 | |
| 2008 | 9,006,702 | 125,550 | 12,418 | |
| 2009 | 9,049,355 | 115,969 | 23,791 | |
| 2010 | 8,596,715 | 108,997 | 20,357 | |
| 2011 | 9,385,245 | 113,357 | 19,332 | |
| 2012 | 9,195,061 | 110,288 | 19,115 | |
| 2013 | 9,775,443 | 111,736 | 18,624 | |
| Source: United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority[19] | ||||
Busiest routes
handled |
2012-13 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  United Kingdom |
4,667,517 |  3.8
| |
| 2 |  Spain |
919,572 | 11.8
| |
| 3 |  Netherlands |
562,605 |  0.8
| |
| 4 |  Germany |
515,333 | 7.8
| |
| 5 |  France |
494,191 | 0.8
| |
| 6 |  Ireland |
489,854 | 1.0
| |
| 7 |  Italy |
268,880 | 8.5
| |
| 8 |  Poland |
239,592 | 9.2
| |
| 9 |  Switzerland |
228,682 | 7.3
| |
| 10 |  Belgium |
152,069 | 32.0
| |
| 11 |  Denmark |
151,783 | 43.3
| |
| 12 |  Portugal |
138,076 | 32.7
| |
| 13 |  USA |
137,372 | 5.5
| |
| 14 |  Turkey |
116,841 | 54.7
| |
| 15 |  Norway |
112,956 | 2.0
| |
| Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority[2] | ||||
| Rank | Airport | Passengers handled | % change 2012/13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | London-Heathrow | 1,356,191 | 8.0
| |
| 2 | London-Gatwick | 695,766 |  0.0
| |
| 3 | London-City | 335,094 | 3.4
| |
| 4 | London-Stansted | 326,524 | 5.3
| |
| 5 | Bristol | 306,160 | 4.1
| |
| 6 | Birmingham | 286,002 | 0.4
| |
| 7 | London-Luton | 274,703 | 1.8
| |
| 8 | Belfast-International | 244,552 | 3.6
| |
| 9 | Southampton | 207,566 | 1.5
| |
| 10 | Belfast-City | 129,261 | 3.3
| |
| Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority[2] | ||||
| Rank | Airport | Passengers handled | % change 2012/13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Amsterdam |
562,360 | 0.8
| |
| 2 | Dublin |
413,081 | 3.5
| |
| 3 | Paris-Charles de Gaulle |
279,408 | 2.5
| |
| 4 | Frankfurt am Main |
171,025 | 17.7
| |
| 5 | Alicante |
153,766 | 41.5
| |
| 6 | Geneva |
152,913 | 6.6
| |
| 7 | Palma de Mallorca |
143,007 | 14.9
| |
| 8 | Newark |
135,048 | 5.7
| |
| 9 | Tenerife South |
127,605 | 14.8
| |
| 10 | Copenhagen |
126,641 | 53.8
| |
| 11 | Malaga |
126,443 | 19.6
| |
| 12 | Krakow |
114,696 | 3.0
| |
| 13 | Madrid |
112,352 | 0.6
| |
| 14 | Faro |
100,055 | 26.3
| |
| 15 | Milan-Malpensa |
99,536 | 0.5
| |
| 16 | Brussels |
93,132 | 60.8
| |
| 17 |  Prague |
89,608 | 86.7
| |
| 18 | Munich |
88,352 | 2.9
| |
| 19 | Barcelona |
82,341 | 0.5
| |
| 20 | Istanbul |
70,230 | 238.4
| |
| Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority[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,[20] 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.[21]
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.[22]
Transport links
Work is underway to construct the Edinburgh Trams, a light rail link from the airport to Edinburgh city centre. 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 by May 2014.[23]
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.[24] The station is expected to open by December 2016.
Infrastructure
In April 2008 work began on the resurfacing of the main runway. This project, at a cost of £16m,[25] was due to be completed by the end of November 2008 and will prolong the life of the runway for a further 15 years.[26] In the end, the work was completed around 10 days ahead of schedule and on budget.[27]
A £40m extension to the departure lounge has been built, work commenced in December, 2008.[26]
£250m is to be spent on the airport over the next decade.[26] 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.[28] 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 of bars, restaurants and shops. The departure lounge opened on 18/11/09.[29]
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.[30]
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.[31][32]
Accolades
- 2011 - 2nd Best Airport in Europe of the Airport Service Quality Awards by Airports Council International[33]
References
- ^ a b Edinburgh - EGPH
- ^ a b c d e f g h CAA: UK Annual Airport Statistics Cite error: The named reference "stats" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Site Record for Edinburgh, RAF Turnhouse". Canmore. RCAHMS. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
- ^ BAA: "BAA to sell Edinburgh Airport"
- ^ BAA announces sale of Edinburgh Airport
- ^ New BA route to IBZ in S14
- ^ easyJet drops EDI-SEN route in S14
- ^ a b "easyJet Summer 2014". easyJet.com. 17 January 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ^ New Edelweiss route in S14
- ^ New Jet2 route to Pula in S14
- ^ New LS route to Reus in S14
- ^ New Jet2 route to Verona in S14
- ^ "Qatar Airways Announces New Route to Edinburgh" (Press release). Qatar Airways. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
- ^ a b "SAS Summer 2014". edinburghairport.com. 17 January 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
- ^ New UA route to ORD
- ^ http://www.routesonline.com/news/29/breaking-news/226885/us-airways-adds-philadelphia-a-edinburgh-summer-seasonal-service-from-late-may-2014/
- ^ Number of Movements represents total aircraft takeoffs and landings during that year.
- ^ UK Airport Statistics
- ^ "Edinburgh Airport - City Centre frequent express shuttle". Lothian Buses. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
- ^ "Airdirect 747". Stagecoach Group. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
- ^ "It's £30m down the drain". Edinburgh: The Scotsman. 27 September 2007. Retrieved 20 January 2010. [dead link]
- ^ "Route map". Edinburgh Trams. 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
- ^ Stevenson, Stewart (27 September 2007). "Edinburgh Airport Rail Link". Scottish Parliament. Retrieved 12 January 2010.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Runway revamp ready for take-off
- ^ a b c /display.var.2469632.0.More_investment_for_airport_following_runway_resurfacing.php More investment for airport following runway resurfacing
- ^ New look runway set for take off after £16m upgrade project heralds "great future" for capital's airport
- ^ Evidence supporting airport expansion is flawed, says government adviser
- ^ Edinburgh Airport outlines 2030 vision
- ^ Edinburgh Evening News:Airport chiefs called on to ditch second runway plans
- ^ Scotsman: Pilots praised as sheriff confirms snow caused crash, 13 November 2003
- ^ Accident description and details.
- ^ "ASQ Award for Best Airport in Europe" Airports Council International. 14 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-04-13
External links
Media related to Edinburgh Airport at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Edinburgh Airport Consultative Committee
- 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
| Primary | |
|---|---|
| Regional | |
| Unscheduled | |
| Statistics | |
|    | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
