Edinburgh is busiest ever Scottish airport

The airport is currently undergoing a programme of expansion

Edinburgh Airport has become the busiest ever Scottish airport.

Figures from July showed more than 1.5 million passengers made their way through the airport, the highest figure ever recorded.

That represented a 6.3% increase on the same month last year, with growth in both domestic and international travallers.

Friends of the Earth said the figures were not good news for those worried about pollution.

'Fastest growing'

Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said the airport was currently undergoing a programme of expansion to reflect its increased popularity.

He said: "These are fantastic figures for the airport, for Edinburgh and for Scotland, and they show an increase in passenger demand of 60% over the past five years, that is phenomenal growth and easily makes us one of Europe's fasting growing airports.

"That growth is something we should be proud of as it delivers wide-ranging benefits for the country through job creation, tourism spend and business growth, but it also means we need to keep growing our infrastructure and build that additional capacity to cater for those increased numbers."

However, Dr Richard Dixon, director of Friends of the Earth, said: "This isn't good news if you're worried about pollution.

"If you're worried about climate change then flights are a big problem.

"If your worried about local pollution then the traffic around the airport and the noise from the planes are serious issues for people nearby."