Edinburgh Airport disruption: 'No way to treat paying passengers and a terrible welcome to Scotland'
Passengers’ fury at long waits to disembark amid weather disruption
Passengers have expressed anger at having to wait at least 90 minutes to disembark their aircraft after landing at Edinburgh Airport amid weather-related delays.
Scotland’s busiest airport said the buses it runs to ferry travellers between planes and the terminal were disrupted on Tuesday afternoon by flights taking off and landing late because of bad weather.
However, passengers said no explanations were given or updates provided while they waited.
The airport has yet to say how many flights were affected.
Martin Roche, who arrived on a Ryanair flight from Beziers in France, said he had to wait on board for two hours.
He said: “The flight landed on time. The pilot said he had been redirected from the original parking spot to the opposite end of the airport.
“The pilot said the problems lay at the door of Edinburgh Airport but no further explanation was given.”
Mr Roche, a columnist for The Scotsman, said: “The long and tedious delay in leaving the aircraft meant we spent four-and-a-half hours on board. It was an unpleasant experience. Passengers were helpless.
“A black mark against Edinburgh Airport. This is no way to treat paying passengers and a terrible welcome to Scotland.
“The bottom line is it was management failure and great customer inconvenience.
“I travel a lot. Edinburgh not on my list of the better airports.”
Another passenger, Gill Barrie, posted on social media site X to the airport: “Landed 25 mins ago and still no buses to get us off the plane - typical embarrassing situation. Get your act together - it’s June.”
She later posted: “50 mins waiting for a bus. Outrageous. What a welcome to Edinburgh for our tourists.”
Ryan, another passenger, wrote on X: “Waiting on a bus right now. Landed from Beziers 90 mins ago.”
Author Lisa Brockwell posted: “Why has my son sat on the tarmac at Edinburgh airport for two hours after arriving on a flight from Bologna?”
A spokesperson for Ryanair, the airport’s biggest airline, said of the Beziers flight: “It experienced a total delay of 90 minutes as the [bad weather] had a knock-on effect, as passengers could not be bussed to the terminal on arrival.”
Edinburgh Airport denied a claim by the airline that it had been temporarily closed due to the bad weather.
Its spokesperson said: “At the request of Scottish air traffic control, some arrivals and departures across Scotland were held or re-routed to avoid inclement weather near Lanark.
“This led to knock-on impacts across operations at Edinburgh Airport, with flights off schedule and stands needing to be reallocated at short notice.
“Ground teams, including handling agents, worked quickly to minimise disruption.”
Swissport, the handling agent for Ryanair at Edinburgh Airport, said: “We are aware of reports of issues with the bus services. These services are provided by the airport.”
Edinburgh Airport handled a record of nearly 17 million passengers last year - more than 1m more than in 2024 - and is embarking on the biggest-ever expansion of its terminal to cope with further growth.
The project, expected to cost nearly £1 billion, includes creating space for more aircraft to park beside the terminal rather than at remote stands.
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