Edinburgh Airport eyes increased passenger through-flow

Edinburgh Airport is setting itself ambitious development goals for the years to come as it prepares to welcome new passengers, according to the hub's newly-arrived managing director David Johnston.

After five months in the role, Johnston told the Scotsman that he aims to accelerate the pace of change at the travel hub, first focusing on improving the transport links to lock the airport into a regional network.

Achievements to date have included meeting BAA's target of processing 95 per cent of passengers through security checks in under five minutes, following the introduction of an extra 38 security officers this year.

Higher passenger numbers, too, are in Johnston's sights, with (the) a target figure of 13 million passengers projected for 2014, up on the current nine million annual airport customers.

Meanwhile, business confidence across the UK tourism industry remains strong in spite of the financial crisis, as bosses at the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) insist that rising interest rates will not affect UK consumers' appetite for travel.

Outbound tourism is forecast strong growth of around 4.3 per cent in leisure travel for the next decade, says the WTTC.