Ryanair service cuts have been blamed for the first year-on-year fall in passengers at Edinburgh Airport since the Beast from the East in March last year.
A total of 1,309,170 travellers passed through in October - down 1% on a year ago - after the budget carrier ended its four-a-week Stansted flights. Apart from March 2018, it was the first reduction in numbers for five years.
Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar repeated his call for a rethink on air departure tax, which he claimed could harm business in the event of a downturn in traffic.
He said: “We’ve had almost 60 months of continuous growth and it’s unfortunate that we’ve seen this temporary fall in passenger numbers – something we earlier this year predicted would happen.
“It shows us that growth is not guaranteed and it is only possible with hard work and a collaborative approach. The arguments around ADT are well known and we cannot hide the fact that we now have yet another obstacle to work around to deliver the growth that has become expected. Connectivity is important to Scotland and our initial talks with the Scottish Government about bringing the world closer to Scotland have been positive.
“As an airport, we play our part in tourism, business, education, research and culture, so ensuring a sustainable future for the industry is very important. We need to work together to deliver that.”
International flights at Edinburgh were up 2% year on year, aided by Emirates' new service to Dubai and Qatar's increased flights among others.
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