Exclusive:Edinburgh Airport: Travel boss blasts 'unacceptable' delays for passengers during busiest summer on record

Ken McNab, managing director of The Travel Company Edinburgh and In2Scotland, urged the airport to improve the appearance of the arrivals building, saying its "corrugated iron and wire” created a poor impression for visitors.

His comments come as Edinburgh Airport recorded its busiest day on record, with 62,458 passengers passing through the airport on July 11.

Mr McNab told the Edinburgh Airport Consultative Committee on Monday that in recent weeks it took his colleague one-and-a-half hours to get through the airport after flying into the capital from Dublin. This was due to hold-ups on the tarmac and problems finding the correct set of steps, Mr McNab said.

“That’s unacceptable for the majority of customers,” he said.

His concerns echo other recent criticisms of the airport by business leaders across Scotland, who took to LinkedIn to warn that without urgent improvements, the airport risks damaging Scotland’s reputation among international visitors.

Gordon Robertson, Edinburgh Airport’s chief communications and sustainability officer, said at Monday’s meeting that while he recognised the concerns of passengers, those with negative experiences of arrivals remained in the minority.

“Scots feel proud about Edinburgh and I know some of this makes them feel less proud, but generally it is not the experience of the majority,” he said.

Mr Robertson described the arrivals area as a “functional hall”. But he said concerns about its appearance had been taken on board and were being factored into plans around the airport’s planned redevelopment.

Busiest summer on record

Latest figures provided by the airport showed it had its busiest day on record last month, with 62,458 passengers on July 11. During peak hour a total of 3,600 passengers used the airport.

There were three other days in July when passenger numbers soared above 61,000. The airport’s top five days in 2025 surpassed last year’s daily record of 55,919 passengers.

Passenger numbers for the latest quarter are up 6.3 per cent on the same period in 2024, with over 4.6 million customers using Edinburgh Airport between April and June this year.

Mr Robertson said improvements to the departures process, including the move to axe the 100ml liquids rule, had made a significant difference to the running of operations during the summer months. He said previously the airport would have been “swamped” by the passenger numbers seen this year.

Holiday makers are now able to take liquid containers of up to two litres through security under the change coming into affect last month.

The move followed the installation of eight new X-rays machines as part of a £24 million investment to transform the airport’s security process. Large electrical items, such as tablets and laptops, can also now remain in bags.

Mr Robertson said lifting the limit on liquids had been “fantastically received” and that passengers were embracing it with “gusto”.

The airport’s figures, as of last month, show 94 per cent of passengers are passing through security in under ten minutes, compared to 87 per cent in the same month last year.

Data collected by Edinburgh Airport through customer surveys shows passenger satisfaction sitting at 91 per cent - a slight fall of 2 per cent from the previous quarter.

Edinburgh Airport is undergoing significant expansion. In May, its chief executive said a five-year programme of investment was underway as passenger numbers continue to soar.

New aircraft stands, more flight departure gates and an expansion of the terminal’s south-east pier are among planned works.