Coronavirus: Edinburgh Airport warns of 'close to zero' passengers

Scotland's busiest airport has warned it could be facing "close to zero" passenger demand in the coming months.

Edinburgh Airport has said the coronavirus outbreak is "an unprecedented situation" and has left the business facing tough decisions.

Trade unions have warned hundreds of jobs are at risk at the airport as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and Flybe falling into administration.

British Airways has also warned of job losses as a result of coronavirus.

A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said: "There is no denying that the coronavirus situation is having an immediate and direct impact on our business and many others across Scotland and the rest of the world.

"As an airport we are facing an unprecedented situation, looking at the potential of three months of zero or close to zero passenger demand.

"We have spent the last few weeks looking at how we deal with the immediate and longer term effects and unfortunately that means taking some extremely tough decisions as the industry continues to react."

Threat to jobs

The union Unite has said it has been told that more than 100 jobs at Edinburgh Airport are at risk of redundancy due to Flybe falling into administration and coronavirus.

This is in addition to other potential job losses announced earlier this week at Edinburgh, as well as Aberdeen and Glasgow airports.

Sandy Smart, Unite regional industrial officer, said: "There is a crisis facing the civil aviation industry in Scotland.

"Unite fully understands the scale of this crisis and that's why we repeat our call for the Scottish government to initiate a task force with immediate effect for the civil aviation industry in order to bring forward contingency plans to enable Scottish airports to remain open and to keep the workforce in employment through this crisis."

A spokesman for AGS Airports, which runs Glasgow and Aberdeen airports, said: "Like all sectors, the aviation industry is having to contend with the continued spread of coronavirus and the impact it is having on passenger demand. We're working closely with our airline partners to ensure we respond accordingly and that passengers and staff have access to the most up-to-date advice from government agencies."