Edinburgh Airport passenger numbers fall

Edinburgh Airport said it had been a "difficult beginning to the year"

Passenger numbers fell at Edinburgh Airport last month, following the closure of some UK airports as a result of poor winter weather.

A total of just over 525,600 people passed through Scotland's busiest airport in January - a drop of 5.7% compared to the same period last year.

Edinburgh said it had remained opened throughout the month but had been affected by other airport closures.

It described January as a "difficult beginning to the year".

The airport, which is owned by Global Infrastructure Partners, is now gearing up for an expected increase in traffic, with three Six Nations rugby matches due to be held in the capital over the next few weeks.

Earlier this week, Glasgow Airport also blamed low visibility and snow at other UK airports for a slight fall in its January traffic.

Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar said: "Despite winter weather affecting other parts of the UK, Edinburgh Airport remained open. Our snow teams did a remarkable job, but still we were affected by other closures and passenger numbers are therefore down.

"That is clearly disappointing, but our sharp focus now is on providing the best possible welcome for visiting rugby fans in February and March."

He added: "Looking forward, the outlook for Edinburgh Airport is good. We expect our traffic to grow as we move to the busy summer months, and we start to see the full positive impact of our new deals with easyjet and Ryanair, and new routes across Europe, North America and the UK."