Scots airports flying high

Aberdeen has seen strong passenger growth

Three of Scotland's main airports have reported strong growth in passenger numbers.

Operator BAA said the figures from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow were pleasing, following fears that the foot-and-mouth outbreak would hit visitor numbers.

Meanwhile, Irish airline Ryanair has announced it is introducing a service between Dublin and Edinburgh from the end of August.

Ryanair is also increasing flights to Dublin from its base at Glasgow Prestwick, which the company said last month had helped annual profits soar 35% to £295.9m.

June passengers

Aberdeen 235,000 (+6.2%)

Edinburgh 554,000 (+9.7%)

Glasgow 746,000 (+3.5%)

Heathrow 5.6m (-1.4%)

Stansted 1.3m (+21.9%)

The figures from BAA showed Edinburgh had experienced the largest increase of the Scottish airports, with strong demand on domestic, Irish and European routes in June.

Both Aberdeen and Glasgow also showed a rise in passenger numbers, in contrast to a drop at the company's largest airport - Heathrow.

All three airports have benefited from the growth in low cost air travel advocated by airlines like Ryanair, EasyJet, Icelandair and Continental.

However, the Scottish airports have experienced a sharp drop in cargo tonnage.

The fall was blamed on the worldwide slowdown in trading activity.

There are more airlines offering more routes

In total, BAA handled 11.8 million passengers at its seven UK airports in June.

In particular, American tourists appear to be returning to the UK as the decline in North Atlantic traffic reduced from 10% in May to 2.9% in June.

Long-haul traffic reversed a 3.5% drop in May to record an increase of 2.6% last month, while European scheduled traffic was up by 6.5%.

Only Heathrow suffered a decrease in business during the month, dipping 1.4% to 5.6 million passengers.

Gatwick was ahead 4.5% at 3.3 million, while the UK's fastest growing airport Stansted enjoyed a 21.9% rise after the introduction of a new US route.