Edinburgh Airport (EDI/EGPH)

Major reasons to serve this airport

Edinburgh has experienced the largest growth in international capacity amongst UK airports

Edinburgh has one of the largest inbound % of international passengers in Europe

Edinburgh Airport – Where Scotland meets the world

• Edinburgh is the busiest airport in Scotland – 14,747,830 passengers in 2019 (+3% on 2018)
• 38 airlines are flying to 228 routes and 158 destinations
• Edinburgh is the busiest domestic airport in the UK
• Edinburgh has experienced the largest growth in international capacity amongst UK airports – 112% between 2019 and 2019
• 42% of Edinburgh’s capacity comes from network carriers

Some of the best known sights in the UNESCO World Heritage City of Edinburgh – Victoria Street, the Old Town, Arthur’s Seat and Edinburgh Castle.

Edinburgh – UNESCO World Heritage City

Tourism

• Edinburgh is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations attracting visitors with its breath-taking beauty, amazing history and culture, high-quality conference and convention centres and wide range of accommodation.
• Edinburgh is the 2nd most visited destination in the UK after London
• Named 2nd top UK destination for the fourth year in a row in TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards (2018)
• Voted fourth most beautiful city in the world (Rough Guide 2016)
• For the fourth year in a row, Edinburgh won the Best UK City at the Telegraph Travel Awards in 2017
• 7 of Scotland’s Top 10 attractions are in Edinburgh
  • Edinburgh Old and New Towns were designated as a World Heritage Site in 1996
  • Over 2m people visited Edinburgh Castle in 2017

Business

• Convention Edinburgh named finalist in the category of Best UK Convention Bureau (Meeting and Incentive Travel Awards 2016)
• Voted best city in Europe to locate a tech business (European Business Magazine 2016)
• Voted best city in the UK to launch a start-up (Expert Market 2017)
• Edinburgh is the most popular UK city after London for hosting international association meetings, rated 18 in the top 50 European City ranking and 27th in the world. (ICCA 2017)
• Ranked second in the world for quality of life (Deutsche Bank 2017)
• Edinburgh University was ranked 23rd in the world (QS World Rankings 2018)

From April to August each year, Edinburgh throbs with festival activity — including the International Science Festival (April), International Film Festival (June), Jazz Festival (July) Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, International Book Festival, International Festival and the Fringe Festival (all in August).

• Event and Festival Destination of the year (Luxury Travel Guide Awards 2017)
• Edinburgh’s festivals are a unique cultural phenomenon and each year they attract over 4 million people
• Only the Olympics and the World Cup in Football exceed the number of tickets sold for Edinburgh’s festival events
• Edinburgh Fringe Festival
  • Largest arts festival in the world with live theatre and comedy performances
  • 2.7m tickets sold in 2016 (+9% on 2016)
• The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo
  • Showcasing the talents of musicians and performers from every corner of the globe in front of an annual audience of 220,000 people
  • Around 100 million people see the Tattoo each year on international television
  • Sold out for 18 consecutive years
• International Film Festival, the longest continuously run film festival in the world, takes place over a 13-day period at the end of June.
• Edinburgh Jazz Festival — Britain’s biggest jazz festival held annually in July, which boasts over 170 gigs at a dozen venues
• Edinburgh International Book Festival — launched in 1983, is the biggest festival of the written word in the world – more than 800 authors in over 700 events
• Edinburgh International Science Festival — world’s first science festival, founded in 1989 and remains Europe’s largest with 270 events
• Edinburgh’s Christmas – nearly 2-months long (mid-November – early January) celebration of Christmas which includes everything from markets to ice rinks, theatres to light shows
• Edinburgh’s Hogmanay
  • Three-day winter festival that takes place at the end of each year
  • Highlights include Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street party where 150,000 people meet in the city to see in the New Year

Over 200 golf courses are within a two-hour drive of Edinburgh Airport - including the ‘home of Golf’ St Andrews, and Gleneagles.

Edinburgh – Scotland’s Golfing Gateway

• Golden triangle of world famous courses – up to one-hour away from Edinburgh Airport:
  • St Andrews — the home of Golf;
  • Gleneagles — 2014 Ryder Cup host;
  • Muirfield — the world’s oldest golf club.
• Over 200 golf courses are within a two-hour drive of Edinburgh Airport.

The best way to celebrate starting a new route into Edinburgh would be with a ‘wee dram’ of the golden liquid that Scotland is so famous for.

Edinburgh and whisky

• 1.7 m visitors to Scotland’s distilleries in 2016 (+8% on 2015)
• Edinburgh is a centre for whisky — The Scotch Malt Whisky Society and the Scotch Whisky Experience (326k visitors in 2016) are both based in the city.
• Glenkinchie distillery, home of the ‘Edinburgh Malt’ is just 15 miles from the city centre.

Marketing and other support

Edinburgh Airport is ready to partner your airline to promote your new route into Scotland’s capital city.

New route launch activity — including the obligatory fire truck water arch - is all part of the marketing mix that Edinburgh Airport is willing and able to provide to new services.

Key marketing support points include:

• Bespoke joint marketing plans developed for new route and airline launches;
• Dedicated airline launch team to support all launch activity and logistics;
• Comprehensive multi-channel marketing support. Live database in excess of 200k;
• Strong partnerships with key associations including; Visit Scotland, Marketing Edinburgh, Festivals Edinburgh and Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce;
• On-site media support for new destinations from Edinburgh Airport;
• Potential to integrate into Edinburgh Airport above the line destinations campaigns;
• On-going tactical marketing assistance post launch.

For more information please contact the Edinburgh Airport Aviation Team on EDI_Aviation@edinburghairport.com

Airport Catchment area

Public Transport

• Analysis of minute by minute travel times for public transport shows that over 2.2m people live closer to EDI than any other airport
  • Of those, 71% are ina the demographic bands who travel often (63% GLA)
  • 33% travel frequently
  • 38% travel regularly

Drive Times

• Analysis of minute by minute drive time for the three main Scottish airports shows that over 2m people live closer to EDI than any other airport
• Of those, 72% are in the demographic bands who travel often (64% GLA)
  • 35% travel frequently
  • 37% travel regularly

Airport Catchment area

Computational analysis of drive times for major airports in Northern England and Scotland shows EDI’s core catchment in blue (i.e. closer than any other major airport). More than 2m people live in this blue area. – Click to enlarge

Edinburgh is home to some of the world’s major corporations.

Edinburgh – centre for digital tech and life sciences as previous corporate travel agents in Scotland

Scotland’s population is mainly focused in the central belt:

• Central belt population moving east;
• Edinburgh forecast growth of further 10% by 2025;
• All areas of the defined EDI core catchment above are experiencing growth or strong growth.

Edinburgh – a wealthy market

• Half of Scotland’s Top 20 most expensive streets are in Edinburgh (Source: Bank of Scotland, 2016)
• Edinburgh has the second highest average gross disposable income (£21.2k) per head in the UK – Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow are 20-30% lower than Edinburgh (Source: ONS 2015)
• 47% of Edinburgh’s passengers fly internationally more than 7 times a year

Edinburgh – gateway to a thriving life sciences sector

• Edinburgh Science Triangle is one of the top 10 R&D locations in Europe
• Life sciences employ 37,000 people in over 650 organisations in Scotland
• Sector turnover is c. £4bn
• 90+ companies are based in the City of Edinburgh with an additional 60 in the Lothian area

Edinburgh – a major technology hub

• Skyscanner, Fanduel and Rockstar North are some of the tech companies headquartered in the city
• Several major tech incubators in the city – TechCube, Silicon Walk and The Melting Pot
• Edinburgh University’s School of Informatics is a world leader in the field – supported 184 start ups in the last 5 years

Edinburgh – FOUR universities with a global focus

• Education is the biggest driver of corporate long haul travel from Edinburgh (CAA passenger survey 2013)
• Several major tech incubators in the city – CodeBase, TechCube, Silicon Walk and The Melting Pot
• Edinburgh University’s School of Informatics is a world leader in the field – supported 184 start ups in the last 5 years
• Edinburgh was the UK’s fastest growing tech hub in 2017

The map above shows government statistics on population change. The dark purple areas experiencing a strong growth; lighter purple are areas experiencing a lighter growth; areas in grey are stagnant or in decline.