Edinburgh Airport

Infobox Airport
name = Edinburgh Airport
nativename = Port-adhair Dùn Èideann

---

IATA = EDI
ICAO = EGPH
type = Public
owner-oper = BAA
city-served = Edinburgh, Scotland
location =
elevation-f = 136
elevation-m = 41
coordinates = coord|55|57|00|N|003|22|21|W|type:airport
website = [http://www.edinburghairport.com/ www.edinburghairport.com]
metric-rwy = Y
r1-number = 06/24
r1-length-f = 8,389
r1-length-m = 2,557
r1-surface = Asphalt
r2-number = 12/30
r2-length-f = 5,899
r2-length-m = 1,798
r2-surface = Asphalt
stat-year = 2007
stat1-header = Aircraft Movements
stat1-data = 128,172
stat2-header = Passengers
stat2-data = 9,047,558
footnotes = Statistics from the UK CAA [http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data/2007Annual/Table_09_Terminal_and_Transit_Pax_2007.pdf Passengers] , [http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data/2007Annual/Table_03_1_Aircraft_Movements_2007.pdf Aircraft Movements 2007] ] Source: UK AIP at NATS

Edinburgh Airport Airport codes|EDI|EGPH is located in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was the busiest airport in Scotland in 2007, handling 9,047,558 passengers. It was also the seventh busiest airport in the UK by passengers and the fifth busiest by air transport movements. It is located 8 statute miles (13 km) west of the city centre and is situated just off the M8 motorway.

Edinburgh Airport is easily reached by the M9 and M90 motorways and is close to the Fife Circle and Edinburgh-Glasgow railway lines. Express bus services link the airport to Edinburgh City Centre by Airlink 100, to Inverkeithing railway station and Ferrytoll Park and Ride in Fife by Stagecoach Service 747, to Edinburgh Park, Sighthill, Fountainbridge, Holyrood and Leith by Service 35 and to Livingston, Broxburn, East Calder, Mid Calder by E&M Horsburgh Service 555/777.

The airport is owned and operated by BAA, which also owns and operates six other UK airports [ [http://www.baa.com/portal/controller/dispatcher.jsp?CiID=550aadc5c5c72010VgnVCM100000147e120a____&CtID=448c6a4c7f1b0010VgnVCM200000357e120a____&Ct=B2C_CT_GENERAL&RootCh=About%20BAA&Ch=UK+airports&ChID=9f81844f76a32010VgnVCM100000147e120a____&ChPath=Corporate%5EAbout+BAA%5EWhat+do+we+do%3F%5EUK+airports&ChIDPath=2292ea0bb0022010VgnVCM100000147e120a____%5E446597dc2eb12010VgnVCM100000147e120a____%5E0061844f76a32010VgnVCM100000147e120a____%5E9f81844f76a32010VgnVCM100000147e120a____ UK airports owned and operated by BAA] ] , and is itself owned by an international consortium led by the Spanish Ferrovial Group. [ [http://www.baa.com/portal/controller/dispatcher.jsp?CiID=3907dc4bf8721110VgnVCM10000036821c0a____&CtID=448c6a4c7f1b0010VgnVCM200000357e120a____&Ct=B2C_CT_GENERAL&RootCh=About%20BAA&Ch=Who+owns+us%3F&ChID=2af6258032301110VgnVCM10000036821c0a____&ChPath=Corporate%5EAbout+BAA%5EWho+we+are%5EWho+owns+us%3F&ChIDPath=2292ea0bb0022010VgnVCM100000147e120a____%5E446597dc2eb12010VgnVCM100000147e120a____%5E6c4e3de26aa32010VgnVCM100000147e120a____%5E2af6258032301110VgnVCM10000036821c0a____ BAA: "Who owns us?"] ]

The airport is a hub for easyJet, flyglobespan and Ryanair.

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.

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 Vikings followed by the Viscount and Vanguard series.

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 constructing a new runway and terminal building.

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 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 metre tall air traffic control tower was completed at a cost of £10m (€16m).

An extension to the terminal opened in September 2006. This added six gates on a new pier to the South-East of the earlier building.

History of Edinburgh Airport's passenger numbers [http://www.baa.com/assets//B2CPortal/Static%20Files/Edimasterplanv2_single.pdf] [http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/80/airport_data/2007Annual/Table_09_Terminal_and_Transit_Pax_2007.pdf] :

Airlines and destinations

*Aer Arann (Cork, Galway)
*Aer Lingus (Dublin)
*Air France
**operated by CityJet (London-City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
*Air Transat (Toronto-Pearson)
*BH Air (Bourgas, Varna, Plovdiv)
*bmi (London-Heathrow)
**operated by bmi Regional (Brussels, Copenhagen, Leeds/Bradford, Manchester, Zurich)
*bmibaby (Birmingham, Cardiff, East Midlands)
*British Airways (London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow)
**operated by BA CityFlyer (London-City)
**operated by Loganair (Inverness, Isle of Man, Kirkwall, Lerwick, Sumburgh, Stornoway, Wick) [ends 25 October]
*Cimber Air (Billund)
*Clickair (Barcelona) [seasonal]
*Continental Airlines (Newark)
*Delta Air Lines (New York-JFK)
*easyJet (Alicante, Amsterdam, Belfast-International, Bristol, Dortmund, Geneva, Kraków, London-Gatwick, London-Luton, London-Stansted, Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Munich, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
*Eurocypria Airlines (Larnaca, Paphos)
*Flybe (Belfast-City, Birmingham, Cardiff, Exeter, Manchester, Newquay, Norwich, Rennes, Southampton)
**operated by Loganair (Inverness, Isle of Man, Kirkwall, Lerwick, Sumburgh, Stornoway, Wick) [begins 26 October]
*Flyglobespan (Alicante, Arrecife, Barcelona, Dalaman, Dubrovnik, Faro, Funchal, Geneva, Ibiza, Málaga, Nice, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Pula, Rome-Fiumicino, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tenerife-South, Toronto-Hamilton)
*First Choice Airways (Faro) [seasonal]
*Germanwings (Cologne/Bonn)
*Iberworld (Las Palmas, Madrid, Tenerife-South)
*Jet2.com (Avignon, Chambery, Dusseldorf [begins 29 March] , Ibiza [begins 21 May] , La Rochelle, Mahon [begins 21 May] , Murcia [begins 30 March] , Olbia [begins 16 May] , Pisa, Prague, Toulouse, Venice [begins 22 May] )
*Karthago Airlines (Monastir)
*KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)
**operated by KLM Cityhopper (Amsterdam)
*Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
*Monarch Airlines (Alicante, Dalaman, Faro, Fuerteventura, Las Palmas, Palma de Mallorca, Paphos, Reus, Tenerife-South, Zakynthos)
*Norwegian Air Shuttle (Oslo)
*Onur Air (Bodrum, Dalaman)
*Ryanair (Alicante, Berlin-Schönefeld [begins 5 November] , Billund [begins 5 November] , Bournemouth [begins 5 November] , Bratislava [begins 5 November] , Bremen, Dublin, Frankfurt-Hahn, Grenoble Lyon [begins 20 December] , Krakow [begins 5 November] , Lodz [begins 5 November] , Málaga [begins 5 November] , Marseille, Palma de Mallorca [begins 5 November] , Pisa, Poznan [begins 5 November] , Shannon, Stockholm-Skavsta [begins 5 November] , Turin [begins 20 December] , Weeze, Wrocław [begins 5 November] )
*Scandinavian Airlines System (Copenhagen, Stockholm-Arlanda)
*Sterling Airlines (Copenhagen, Stockholm-Arlanda)
*Thomsonfly (Palma de Mallorca) [seasonal]
*Widerøe (Bergen)

Cargo airlines

*Atlantic Airlines (Coventry)
*DHL (East Midlands)
**operated by Exin (Aberdeen)
*Jet2.com (East Midlands, London-Stansted)
*Titan Airways (Bristol, London-Stansted)
*UPS
**operated by Star Air (Cologne, East Midlands)

2007 Traffic Statistics

Future plans

In July 2007 BAA announced it would be [http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1048432007 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 capacity, but it is rumoured that these will be for large aircraft. BAA also plans to resurface the runway as part of their £1 billion investment in the airport.

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.

The Edinburgh tram network is due to connect to Edinburgh Airport in 2011 [http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/306270/Tram+to+Edinburgh.htm]

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 [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/evidence-supporting-airport-expansion-is-flawed-says-government-adviser-831508.html] . BAA projects that by 2030 Edinburgh Airport will be handling 26 million passengers per annum [http://www.edinburghairport.com/portal/page/EDI%5EEdinburgh+Press+Releases/006ec1dd15d6c010VgnVCM20000039821c0a____/a22889d8759a0010VgnVCM200000357e120a____/] .

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 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. [Scotsman: [http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=153&id=1252812003 "Pilots praised as sheriff confirms snow caused crash"] , 13 Nov 2003]

References

*United Kingdom AIP

External links

* [http://www.edinburghairport.com Edinburgh Airport - Official website]
* [http://www.ukaccs.info/edinburgh/ Edinburgh Airport Consultative Committee]