Edinburgh bucks UK airport trend

Edinburgh Airport bucked a negative trend that emerged among UK air hubs in January by posting an increase in passenger figures.

The Scottish hub recorded an increase of 3.9 per cent in passenger numbers on January 2007, one of only two airports to see growth in activity.

Gatwick Airport was the other base to experience rising traffic, with one per cent more people passing through in January this year than in 2007.

In total, the UK hubs operated by BAA handled 10.1 million passengers last month, which was a two per cent decrease on January 2007.

While sectors including domestic traffic and European charter activity saw traffic go down, there was an increase of 18 per cent in the number of people travelling to Hong Kong and China from BAA airports.

BAA spokesman Donald Morrison told the BBC that continuing economic uncertainty is likely to have had an effect on demand for air travel.