Chapter 8: Air Transport

Chapter 8: Air Transport

Chapter 8: Air Transport

1. Introduction

1.1 This chapter provides information on air transport, such as passenger numbers by origin, destination and type of service, flight punctuality, amount of freight carried, air transport movements, and income and expenditure figures of airline authorities.

Key Points

  • There were 28.8 million air passengers at Scottish airports in 2017
  • Three quarters travel to or from Edinburgh or Glasgow.
  • 60 thousand tonnes of freight were carried by air in 2017.

2. Main Points

Passengers & Airports

2.1 There were 28.8 million air terminal passengers in 2017, 2 million (7.3%) more than in the previous year. Passenger numbers increased by 39% between 2001 and 2007 reaching a peak of 25.1 million  before falling 17% to 20.9 million in 2010, since when they have risen 38 per cent. (Table 8.1)

2.2 Edinburgh airport had 13.4 million terminal passengers in 2017 (9% increase) and Glasgow airport had 9.9 million, 6% more than the previous year.  Aberdeen had 3.1 million, (up 5%) and Inverness had 0.9 million (12% more).  Together these four airports accounted for 95% of the total.  Over the past ten years, trends for these airports were similar to the national picture, except for Edinburgh which saw a levelling off in numbers after 2007 rather than a fall. (Table 8.1)

2.3 In 2017, London Heathrow accounted for 36% of passengers on selected domestic routes to and from Aberdeen, 23% for Edinburgh and 22% for Glasgow. London Gatwick had 35% of the domestic passengers to/from Inverness. Other domestic routes with large passenger numbers included those between Edinburgh and Gatwick, Stansted, Belfast and London City, and between Glasgow and Gatwick, Stansted, Belfast and Bristol. (Table 8.2)

Origin/destinations

2.4 The most popular country of origin/destination for passengers flying directly to and from Scottish airports was Spain (excluding the Canary Islands) with 2.8 million passenger journeys in 2017, 18% of all passengers on direct flights abroad.  Other popular origins/destinations were the Netherlands (1.4 million passengers), the Irish Republic (1.3 million passengers) and Germany (1.1 million passengers).  The trends for many destinations are increasing numbers of passengers, either as a result of more people travelling or more routes becoming available.  (Table 8.3a and Table 8.3b)

2.5 Some countries e.g. Cape Verde Islands and Mexico are mostly served by charter flights (95% and 72%), whereas all those who travelled to/from Canada or the Qatar used scheduled flights.  (Table 8.4)

2.6 The most popular international airports (those with the largest numbers of passenger journeys for flights directly to and from Scotland's main airports in 2017) were Amsterdam with 1.4 million passengers and Dublin with 1.2 million passengers.  (Table 8.5)

2.7 In 2017, 5% of all terminal passenger traffic was within Scotland, 39% was to/from other parts of the UK, and 43% was between Scotland and mainland Europe. (Table 8.6)

Delays & Movements

2.8 In 2017, the overall average delay was 15 minutes for flights to or from Edinburgh and 14 minutes to or from Glasgow airports (the Notes and Definitions section, page 225 describes the basis for these figures).  Around 14% of flights to or from both Edinburgh and Glasgow airports were delayed by more than 30 minutes. (Table 8.8)  

2.9 The total number of aircraft movements in 2017 was 495,000.  Edinburgh had the highest number of aircraft movements with 129,000, (97% of which were commercial movements), followed by Glasgow (103,000) and Aberdeen (97,000).  (Table 8.9)

Air freight

2.10 Air freight carried in 2017 increased by 4,383 tonnes (8%) over the previous year to 60,263 tonnes. (Table 8.13)

Other statistics

2.11 The Civil Aviation Authority's 2013 passenger survey found large differences between the 4 main airports.  Business passengers ranged from 27% at Glasgow to 57% at Aberdeen.  Forty three per cent of passengers at Aberdeen airport were for leisure, compared with 74 per cent at Glasgow.  (Table 8.14)

2.12   While around 39-50% of departing passengers at each airport arrived by private car, there were marked differences in the use of other modes of transport: taxi/minicab use ranged from 12% at Inverness to 38% at Aberdeen; bus/coach travellers varied from 9% at Edinburgh to 17% at Inverness and hire car users from 0.7% at Glasgow to 9% at Inverness.  (Table 8.15)

Table 8.1: Summary of air transport
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Passengers thousand
Terminal 25,132 24,348 22,496 20,907 22,065 22,207 23,250 24,076 25,507 26,924 28,833
Transit 109 85 43 50 46 29 25 27 26 21 21
Total 25,242 24,433 22,539 20,957 22,111 22,236 23,275 24,103 25,533 26,945 28,854
Terminal passengers1 by airport
thousand
Aberdeen 3,411 3,290 2,984 2,763 3,083 3,329 3,440 3,723 3,469 2,955 3,090
Barra 10 11 10 10 10 11 9 11 11 13 15
Benbecula 35 34 33 30 34 31 31 31 32 32 33
Campbeltown 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 8 9
Dundee 65 61 72 70 62 55 28 22 22 38 21
Edinburgh 9,037 8,992 9,043 8,594 9,384 9,194 9,775 10,159 11,113 12,348 13,409
Glasgow 8,726 8,135 7,213 6,522 6,858 7,150 7,358 7,709 8,710 9,324 9,895
Glasgow Prestwick 2,421 2,414 1,817 1,660 1,296 1,067 1,145 912 610 672 696
Inverness 697 671 583 528 579 602 607 611 668 782 874
Islay 28 29 26 25 26 21 26 27 29 28 32
Kirkwall 132 138 138 129 134 132 150 151 150 153 164
Lerwick (Tingwall) 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4
Scatsta 253 243 270 279 288 304 298 280 254 162 171
Stornoway 126 131 122 112 122 116 120 127 125 124 132
Sumburgh 147 154 139 139 143 149 210 263 270 249 256
Tiree 8 8 8 8 8 7 8 9 10 11 12
Unst 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wick John O'Groats 21 23 21 22 24 25 33 28 24 20 18
tonnes
Freight 66,103 50,228 50,886 47,532 45,162 52,200 54,225 59,878 56,441 55,880 60,263
Aircraft movements 2
Air transport thousand
Domestic 3 254 247 225 206 206 204 201 202 207 197 210
International 3,4 144 139 129 124 135 138 145 146 142 146 151
Air taxi 3 30 31 28 24 26 29 30 28 30 33 23
Other movements 5 131 126 108 102 100 107 104 107 101 105 111
Total 560 543 490 457 467 478 480 483 480 481 495

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. Statistics are not collected for some of the smaller airports on Orkney and Shetland, which are therefore not included in any overall totals.
2. 'Aircraft movements' excludes both Campbeltown and Barra pre-1999 (see table 8.11). 
3. For 2000 and earlier years, air taxi movements were counted under domestic and International aircraft movements. From 2001, this breakdown is no longer available. They have therefore been shown separately for 2001 onwards.
4. Including UK offshore flights.
5. Other includes positioning flights, local movements, test & training, other flights by air transport operators, aero club, private, official, military and business

Table 8.2: Passengers on selected domestic routes, to/from certain Scottish airports  1
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
thousands
Aberdeen
Glasgow - 0.1 - - 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.1 0 0.1 0.3
Kirkwall 42.8 44.4 39.5 38.6 41.5 47.2 48.6 49.1 48.2 35.7 54.9
Scatsta 137.0 130.8 145.1 151.4 154.1 168.1 165.7 159.9 142.7 75.1 94.6
Stornoway 6.8 7.1 6.4 6.3 6.0 5.6 5.5 6.2 5.5 3.6 4.8
Sumburgh 73.3 74.9 63.8 63.5 69.1 75.2 115.3 150.7 143.7 107.4 155.5
Wick John O'Groats 14.9 16.6 14.5 14.7 14.8 14.6 13.9 14.4 12.8 5.7 6.9
Gatwick 214.9 148.0 135.5 129.9 177.8 233.9 173.2 161.8 163.2 143.7 156.4
Heathrow 659.0 656.0 641.3 617.7 652.5 663.8 712.2 776.9 726.7 592.7 622
London City - - - - - 15.8 73.2 72.0 63.3 64.5 54.4
Luton 149.9 139.4 126.9 129.0 147.7 120 82.8 74.5 71.3 72.1 75.1
Belfast2 25.7 25.4 24.2 19.0 18.9 21.5 30.2 37.5 40 43.3 42.8
Birmingham 151.5 146.5 111.1 89.9 83.0 87.3 96.8 125.1 115.8 129.6 131.1
Bristol 26.7 26.9 23.2 22.7 32.8 32.9 34.9 31.8 26.4 21.6 16.7
Cardiff Wales - - 6.9 0.5 10.5 14.1 13.2 12.9 10.6 5.6 8.4
Durham Tees valley 33.4 33.2 31.9 29.9 31.3 33.4 32.7 35 28.2 13.2 17.5
East Midlands - 20.8 19.5 18.1 18.9 19.8 18.4 16.7 15.5 5.4 -
Exeter 24.6 17.6 28.1 30.1 22.4 4.8 - - - - 0.1
Humberside 32.5 33.7 32.0 27.1 30.2 32.2 34.2 36.6 30.1 18.2 23.6
Leeds/Bradford 26.7 21.6 15.5 8.1 0.5 0.6 12.3 7.0 9.2 3.6 5.1
Manchester 121.6 132.3 104.6 93.1 144.5 180.7 203.3 226.1 202.6 202.4 208.1
Newcastle 21.8 22.4 18.5 26.4 24.8 24.9 30.8 30.2 20.8 8.9 11.4
Norwich 65.6 65.8 60.9 60.0 61.7 64.6 63.8 60.2 50.6 42.4 45.4
Southampton 40.3 55.5 45.2 27.9 22.6 16.3 9.5 14.0 13.9 6.7 14.2
Total these routes 1,869.0 1,819.0 1,694.6 1,603.9 1,765.8 1,877.4 1,970.6 2,098.7 1,941.1 1,601.5 1,749.3
Channel Islands 1.5 2.4 2.0 2.2 2.1 2.3 2.2 13.0 17.9 2.4 2.8
Edinburgh
Inverness 10.5 7.5 0.9 1.0 - - - - - 0.1 0.2
Kirkwall 29.2 35.7 39.1 35.6 36.5 40.0 43.5 45.4 44.5 45.8 45.9
Stornoway 25.2 28.3 31.8 21.9 21.7 19.9 19.3 20.5 20.6 20.6 16.9
Sumburgh 26.7 30.8 32.9 32.4 35.6 36.9 39.9 45 44.8 43.5 47.1
Wick John O'Groats 6.1 7.3 7.6 7.8 9.1 9.6 11.4 11.7 11.1 11.6 11.1
Gatwick 748.3 704.9 647.9 604.1 669.1 696.8 693.7 690.4 672.9 700.1 737.3
Heathrow 1,436.6 1,319.0 1,306.1 1,244.8 1,271.5 1,255.0 1,355.9 1,472.8 1,383.9 1,053.4 1179.8
London City 353.9 371.5 326.6 334.7 344.9 322.7 333.9 352.3 532.9 528 484.9
Luton 429.1 359.5 315.6 242.1 259.4 269.8 273.5 259.7 266.6 272.5 309.1
Stansted 448.7 401.9 373.7 329.9 390.4 346.4 326.6 360.3 622.2 836.9 720.3
Belfast2 401.8 363.4 351.5 331.2 351.9 361.5 372.8 377.9 400.8 439.9 456.9
Birmingham 435.3 401.1 336.2 288.0 289.0 285.9 284.2 284 277.9 267.3 255.1
Bournemouth - 19.3 88.4 17.7 - 0.2 0.1 - 0.3 0.1 -
Bristol 260.6 249.8 235.2 227.0 286.6 295.5 305.2 322.8 352 381.9 393.9
Cardiff Wales 158.1 162.6 161.0 111.5 83.6 77.7 77.0 57.6 69.2 94.3 99.4
East Midlands 169.8 164.1 130.2 108.7 109.8 72.7 86.7 92.7 95.3 93.7 92.9
Exeter 67.7 68.0 61.1 53.8 51.4 40.2 36.5 38.3 45.1 45.2 47.6
Leeds/Bradford 51.3 36.5 19.0 13.0 9.8 2.2 - - - - -
Liverpool - - - - - - - - - 15.9 -
Manchester 237.8 228.6 158.3 126.7 119.6 108.3 118.5 109.3 114.1 102.3 117.4
Manston (Kent Int) - - - 17.6 26.5 3.4 - - -
Newquay 20.4 17.9 12.2 13.1 13.7 9.9 4.5 2.3 2.4 2.7 5
Norwich 57.3 58.6 50.4 47.8 46.4 39.7 24.7 28.5 29.3 25.8 28.6
Southampton 208.1 205.1 191.5 194.0 203.6 204.5 207.6 203.2 194.1 198.5 208.1
Southend - - - - - - 39.1 23.7 - - 0.7
Total these routes 5,582.5 5,241.4 4,877.2 4,404.4 4,630.1 4,498.8 4,615.5 4,774.7 5,180.0 5,180.1 5,020.8
Channel Islands 31.1 28.7 23.2 18.3 14.6 11.1 9.2 3.2 6.4 7.0 5.5
Isle of Man 11.9 13.0 11.5 11.4 11.6 10.8 4.2 - - - 3.5

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. In this table only, non-paying passengers are excluded up to 2001 but included from then on. In addition, this table excludes some of the smaller domestic routes. 
Note also that passengers between the four main cities will be counted twice (e.g. flights between Aberdeen and Edinburgh will appear in both the 'Aberdeen' and the 'Edinburgh' sections).
2. Belfast includes Belfast and Belfast City airport.

Table 8.2: (continued) Passengers on selected domestic routes, to/from certain Scottish airports1
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
thousands
Glasgow
Barra 8.7 9.1 8.7 8.6 8.4 9 9.1 10.5 10.7 12.8 14.9
Benbecula 24.3 25.2 24.7 21.9 22.6 19.7 21.8 23 23.5 24.2 24.1
Campbeltown 8.6 9.1 9.3 8.7 9.2 8.6 9.3 9.3 8.2 8.4 8.6
Inverness 0.1 0.1 - - - - - 0.1 - 0.5 0.2
Islay 28.4 29.3 26 25 26 25.1 25.6 27.2 28.7 22.3 32.6
Kirkwall 15.5 15.1 15.4 14.9 15.3 15.1 17.6 17.3 17.4 16.0 19.6
Stornoway 53.8 58.1 53.7 51.0 55.1 55.6 57.5 61.9 62.4 55.4 75
Sumburgh 16.5 17.2 17.4 16.8 17.9 18.0 20.1 24.5 28.6 24.5 33
Tiree 7.4 7.9 7.3 7.2 7.8 7.9 7.6 8 8.7 8.3 11.3
Gatwick 570.7 521.9 514.7 488.8 565.8 607.4 606.3 613.3 612.5 608.6 618.7
Heathrow 1,207.1 1,143.5 1,080.0 1,003.3 820.9 828.5 870.0 871.0 907.9 893.8 909.1
London City 78.1 112.7 114.9 111.1 149.4 158.2 175.4 207.9 238.4 235.1 231.1
Luton 407.7 352.4 326.0 247.7 274.6 276.5 280.7 270.2 215.1 214.7 234.8
Stansted 448.0 358.6 305.1 301.8 342.8 331.6 308.7 304.2 533.3 652.4 527.1
Belfast2 392.8 324.2 323.9 308.2 352.8 367.0 370.1 384.6 421.5 452.2 424.6
Birmingham 347.0 337.1 269.4 212.6 211.9 208.1 203.5 229.4 226.7 226.7 221.7
Bristol 243.1 220.2 212.3 201.2 222.2 239.7 257.4 245.3 267.2 297.3 307
Cardiff Wales 76.9 84.0 56.4 52.4 47.2 39.8 48.2 27.9 18.1 37.7 28.9
City of Derry 11.9 9.4 - - - - - 13.3 76 80.7 85
East Midlands 172.6 150.9 115.0 99.7 103.4 70.7 85.5 91.9 95 109.5 102.7
Exeter 56.3 39.4 33.4 26.5 24.4 25.6 23.8 20.7 3.1 32.8 38.8
Leeds/Bradford 38.7 30.4 19.9 14.6 13.2 11.9 10.0 9.8 8.3 7 7
Manchester 167.2 151.8 100.4 68.3 49.4 50.0 52 68.3 45.4 42.5 51.2
Newquay - 2 0.3 0.2 0.9 3.6 1.8 - - 2.3 3.1
Plymouth - 17.2 24.4 23.3 13.6 - - - - -
Southampton 166.5 161.6 156.3 143.4 139.6 173.6 182.6 173 158.3 179.4 197.8
Total these routes 4,506.3 4,144.6 3,772.4 3,417.8 3,453.7 3,513.9 3,604.4 3,669.8 3,972.6 4,160.9 4,107.9
Channel Islands 6.3 5.6 5.4 9.2 17.0 28.3 36.4 34.1 34.7 40.7 56.1
Isle of Man 18.5 16.7 13.8 11.0 11.0 11.1 4.0 7.5 9.9 8.0 5.5
Glasgow Prestwick
Stansted 427.1 402.7 278.3 224.6 88.5 - - - - - 0.1
Belfast City 11.8 86.3 91.7 61.2 - - - - - - 0.2
Bournemouth 94.1 129.0 34.3 - - - - - - - -
Cardiff Wales - - - - - - - - - - 0.1
City of Derry 58.6 64.0 51.3 55.0 70.6 72.8 69.5 52.1 - - -
Total these routes 591.6 682.0 455.6 340.8 159.1 72.8 69.5 52.1 - - 0.4
Channel Islands - - - 1.4 - - - - - - -
Isle of Man - - - - - - - - - - 0.1
Inverness
Benbecula 1.4 0 0 0 0 0 0.7 1.4 2.1 - 0
Kirkwall 25.9 25.1 24.8 23.1 21.7 16.8 19.2 19.1 19.9 19.2 23.7
Stornoway 36.4 35.6 33.1 29.8 36.4 36.2 32.9 29.1 27.1 31.2 29.2
Sumburgh 0.1 0.2 - - 1.5 4.2 3.3 3.4 3.7 3.5 1.0
Gatwick 221.6 243.2 224.9 206.8 222.7 230.4 219.3 192.9 207.1 237.9 263.4
Heathrow 53.5 7.9 - - - - - - - 57.9 79.1
London City - - - - - - - 7.6 4.9 - -
Luton 102.3 102.5 86.6 90.3 99.6 88.8 91.8 89.6 93.5 133.9 136.4
Stansted 0.3 - - - 0.2 0.1 - - - 0.1 0.4
Belfast2 24.4 22.6 19.3 16.8 21.5 23.6 23.3 27.2 29.2 30.3 33.2
Birmingham 15.1 24.9 30.3 30.4 30.3 33.0 34.8 41.2 41.4 42.5 44.1
Bristol 82.1 74.0 73.3 69.2 75.4 78.1 81.2 77.6 82.4 87.7 96.7
East Midlands Int 33.5 40.2 20.4 - - - - - - - -
Manchester 16.7 42.9 50.5 46.4 49.2 51.0 55.8 70.5 84.5 68.2 65.6
Southhampton 3.3 14.9 3.9 2.4 2.1 1.8 - - - - -
Total these routes 615.2 634.0 567.1 515.2 560.6 564.0 561.6 558.2 593.7 658.5 718.9
Channel Islands - 0.9 1.2 1.3 1.8 1.6 1.7 1.8 2.1 1.9 2.0

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. In this table only, non-paying passengers are excluded up to 2001 but included from then on. In addition, this table excludes some of the smaller domestic routes.
Note also that passengers between the four main cities will be counted twice (e.g. flights between Aberdeen and Edinburgh will appear in both the 'Aberdeen' and the 'Edinburgh' sections).
2. Belfast includes Belfast and Belfast City airport.

Figure 8.1: Scottish Airports

Figure 8.1 Scottish Airports

Terminal air passenger traffic 2007 and 20

Terminal air passenger traffic 2007 and 20

Table 8.3 (a): International air passenger traffic to and from the main Scottish international airports1
Regional Area / Country 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
EU 28 countries (Excl UK) thousand
Austria 21.9 21.7 28.9 24.9 28.2 28.3 28.6 29.9 29.0 79.6 89.7
Belgium 121.0 121.0 113.3 134.0 110.6 115.6 153.7 153.0 172.2 194.8 216.5
Bulgaria 60.1 63.1 48.4 45.2 45.6 46.8 46.1 39.3 39.3 49.6 73.6
Croatia 3 15.6 12.9 24.3 11.6 7.1 12.9 31.6 42.0 56.3 62.2 109.7
Cyprus 139.4 152.8 139.4 95.9 148.7 152.9 119.6 112.4 134.3 162.4 175.4
Czech Republic 70.0 63.4 47.5 44.6 47.9 48.0 89.6 79.0 96.3 97.9 124.6
Denmark 129.6 147.2 178.1 175.8 178.2 188.6 220.3 187.0 254.0 298.3 266.5
Estonia - - - - 29.1 - - - 0.2 0.1 -
Finland 16.6 5.7 3.5 34.6 37.4 32.1 3.7 4.5 4.8 32.1 39.9
France 690.0 859.4 862.1 790.7 787.5 808.3 806.7 727.2 725.7 861.7 909.6
Germany 566.4 641.7 663.7 660.3 682.0 698.7 761.2 823.5 852.6 1,009.8 1,127.6
Greece 209.8 161.6 158.9 153.8 163.7 212.9 193.0 270.3 258.6 277.2 335.2
Hungary 6.9 33.1 30.2 19.6 24.4 36.5 37.9 37.1 60.6 86.9 94.1
Irish Republic 1,143.3 1,186.3 1,015.9 849.4 852.8 816.6 843.9 950.8 1,102.3 1,239.0 1,296.6
Italy 380.3 348.1 401.8 359.2 342.3 384.3 396.9 375.4 398.7 584.9 684.2
Latvia 49.5 31.5 36.5 47.2 46.5 20.2 31.9 38.5 20.3 29.5 43.5
Lithuania 4.2 6.0 - 28.3 32.3 29.0 24.8 21.3 29.8 36.2 42.4
Luxembourg - - - - - 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.0 0.5 0.8
Malta 40.9 37.9 45.6 52.7 71.2 57.5 61.5 67.1 74.8 84.8 96.3
Netherlands 1,125.3 1,078.8 987.2 1,006.9 1,135.0 1,223.3 1,244.6 1,323.5 1,353.4 1,368.7 1,409.3
Poland 341.3 384.3 374.2 328.0 326.9 341.3 431.4 355.7 489.7 589.8 625.2
Portugal (excl Madeira) 261.0 266.0 207.5 212.4 280.0 273.9 298.3 294.8 306.5 346.0 436.1
Portugal (Madeira) 25.7 36.1 34.4 21.7 23.1 22.8 21.3 29.3 53.4 55.7 52.5
Romania - - 3.0 - - - - 0.4 1.9 58.2 70.8
Slovak Republic - 6.6 50.3 49.9 44.2 33.6 32.1 23.1 23.6 30.9 39.3
Slovenia - 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.9 - - 0.3 - 0.4 1.1
Spain (excl Canary Isles)  2,101.8 1,908.4 1,679.7 1,483.7 1,726.8 1,746.8 1,929.4 1,874.3 1,987.3 2,351.0 2,818.9
Spain (Canary Islands)  771.2 795.6 666.0 658.1 838.3 816.6 849.5 934.1 933.1 1,145.0 1,336.2
Sweden 152.5 149.5 159.3 131.9 137.4 128.2 112.6 83.5 105.7 107.8 136.6
Total EU28 countries (Excl UK) 8,444.5 8,518.8 7,959.8 7,420.7 8,148.2 8,275.7 8,770.4 8,877.3 9,564.2 11,241.1 12,652.3
Total EU15 countries2 7,716.5  7,727.1  7,160.3  6,697.4  7,323.5  7,497.1   7,863.9   8,061.0   8,537.2    9,952.0   11,156.2 
Other identified countries
Azerbaijan - - - - 4.1 5.8 - - 0.2 - -
Barbados 3.5 7.1 8.0 8.4 7.6 6.0 5.2 6.4 7.3 5.1 7.8
Canada 207.7 160.0 107.5 103.3 112.4 117.8 106.1 112.3 148.4 166.6 168.0
Cape Verde Islands - - - - 13.4 22.0 0.2 - - 3.3 20.8
Cuba - - - 0.8 1.3 0.8 0.6 0.6 0.9 2.9 0.6
Dominican Republic 14.0 22.8 25.5 23.1 16.8 0.7 - 6.1 - - -
Egypt 55.8 67.5 97.9 97.8 72.9 66.3 67.0 46.8 44.9 - 3.6
Faroe Islands 3.8 0.7 0.5 1.1 0.9 0.6 1.5 1.4 8.6 11.0 12.7
Greenland - - - 4.1 8.7 - 0.2 - - - -
Iceland 46.5 30.8 9.7 25.0 33.2 42.6 72.8 97.0 112.6 172.0 227.6
Jamaica - - 2.3 0.5 0.9 - - 0.2 1.3 0.8 3.0
Mexico 27.9 22.1 22.9 28.6 35.3 33.2 30.5 29.2 37.1 38.7 39.5
Morocco - - - 19.7 25.2 0.2 0.2 5.4 30.9 15.8 -
Norway 307.2 305.2 302.1 281.2 309.4 337.4 339.9 352.8 320.5 288.1 271.6
Pakistan 9.3 18.4 25.5 26.3 1.9 - - - - - -
Qatar - - - - - - - 54.0 115.5 134.0 133.3
Russia 0.7 - 0.8 0.7 - 0.7 0.8 - 0.1 0.1 -
Switzerland 149.8 155.5 148.2 154.9 215.4 236.5 241.1 266.0 276.9 281.8 350.1
Tunisia 35.7 34.0 38.9 66.3 21.6 32.7 61.4 67.7 35.2 - -
Turkey 216.3 260.4 268.6 329.3 328.0 316.0 351.7 404.0 425.7 319.1 257.3
United Arab Emirates 231.1 240.7 244.7 268.5 275.0 314.7 402.3 424.6 502.4 555.7 585.7
United States of America 569.5 483.5 459.7 366.1 411.3 367.7 367.0 446.8 489.1 524.8 676.0
Total these countries 1,878.9 1,808.7 1,762.8 1,805.5 1,895.3 1,901.6 2,048.4 2,321.3 2,557.5 2,519.7 2,757.7
All identified countries
for these airports 10,323.4 10,327.5 9,722.6 9,226.2 10,043.5 10,177.3 10,818.7 11,198.7 12,121.7 13,760.8 15,409.9

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. For the purpose of preparing this table, Scotland's main international airports are Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Glasgow Prestwick. This table does not cover all international traffic, as indicated by the lower part of table 8.4.
2. The EU15 was the number of member countries in the European Union prior to the accession of ten candidate countries on 1 May 2004.
The EU15 comprised the following 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. 
3. Croatia joined the EU in 2013.

Table 8.3 (b): Scheduled international passenger traffic to/from the main Scottish international airports1
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Foreign airports served 2 93 95 103 100 101 107 113 110 120 137 152
Routes 3 142 150 168 145 146 154 167 176 185 219 252
thousand
Passengers on scheduled services 7,938.3 8,153.4 8,054.5 7,390.8 8,172.6 8,396.7 9,240.5 9,824.0 10,805.1 12,605.2 14,244.5

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. These figures are produced from the information about scheduled services in the Civil Aviation Authority's UK Airport Statistics Table 12.1, so are based on its conventions and definitions.
For the purpose of this table, Scotland's main international airports are Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Glasgow Prestwick. This table does not cover all scheduled international traffic.
2. The number of foreign airports is shown in the CAA table as the destinations of international scheduled services from Scottish airports in that year.   For example, the CAA table shows 
Rome (Ciampino) and Rome (Fiumicino) separately (for services from Glasgow Prestwick and Edinburgh respectively, in 2003) so they are counted as two separate foreign airports.
3. International scheduled services to the same foreign airport from different Scottish airports are counted as separate routes.  For example, Aberdeen/Dublin, Edinburgh/Dublin,  
Glasgow/Dublin and Glasgow Prestwick/Dublin are counted as four separate routes.  More than one airline may operate services on a particular route. 

Table 8.4: Passenger traffic on selected international routes, to and from Scotland's main airports1, 2017
Scheduled Charter Total
Austria 69,400 20,291 89,691
Barbados - 7,824 7,824
Belgium 214,615 1,881 216,496
Bosnia-Herzegovina - 96 96
Bulgaria 37,836 35,756 73,592
Canada 168,003 - 168,003
Cape Verde Islands 1,037 19,735 20,772
Croatia 92,159 17,532 109,691
Cuba 308 306 614
Cyprus 104,576 70,785 175,361
Czech Republic 124,478 135 124,613
Denmark 266,044 428 266,472
Estonia 3,605 - 3,605
Faroe Islands 12,413 286 12,699
Finland 32,084 7,859 39,943
France 886,671 22,949 909,620
Germany 1,122,215 5,400 1,127,615
Greece 253,050 82,144 335,194
Hungary 94,139 - 94,139
Iceland 227,170 439 227,609
Irish Republic 1,294,525 2,099 1,296,624
Italy 642,874 41,350 684,224
Jamaica - 2,965 2,965
Jordan - 578 578
Kazakhstan - 237 237
Latvia 43,384 94 43,478
Lithuania 42,055 326 42,381
Luxembourg 4 828 832
Malta 96,134 177 96,311
Mexico 10,946 28,597 39,543
Netherlands 1,408,800 524 1,409,324
Norway 269,096 2,513 271,609
Poland 623,986 1,249 625,235
Portugal(Excluding Madeira) 427,118 9,027 436,145
Portugal(Madeira) 47,164 5,288 52,452
Qatar 133,284 - 133,284
Republic Of Korea - 985 985
Romania 70,825 - 70,825
Slovak Republic 38,610 724 39,334
Slovenia - 1,057 1,057
Spain 2,508,807 310,043 2,818,850
Spain(Canary Islands) 992,804 343,395 1,336,199
Sweden 135,928 630 136,558
Switzerland 343,743 6,329 350,072
Turkey 194,166 63,180 257,346
United Arab Emirates 584,599 1,146 585,745
United States of America 625,840 50,155 675,995
Total passenger traffic counted for these countries for Scotland's main airports2 14,244,495 1,167,342 15,411,837
Other international traffic at main Scottish airports2 .. .. -
All international traffic for Scotland's main airports .. .. 15,411,837
International traffic at other Scottish airports .. .. 97,458
Total International traffic at all Scottish airports .. .. 15,509,295

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. For the purpose of preparing this table, Scotland's main international airports are Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Glasgow Prestwick.
2. Charter only routes are counted under 'Other international traffic' in cases where fewer than 5,000 passengers were carried from an airport to a particular country.  

Table 8.5: The 10 international airports with the largest numbers of passenger journeys for flights directly to and from Scotland's main airports 1 , 2017
Scheduled Charter Total
Amsterdam 1,393,075 238 1,393,313
Dublin 1,156,621 1,792 1,158,413
Alicante 623,562 45,822 669,384
Tenerife (Surreina Sofia) 457,827 179,617 637,444
Paris (Charles De Gaulle) 590,463 2,645 593,108
Malaga 528,341 31,826 560,167
Palma De Mallorca 390,557 132,292 522,849
Dubai 466,953 - 466,953
Faro 323,226 8,892 332,118
Frankfurt Main 323,891 381 324,272

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. For the purpose of preparing this table, Scotland's main international airports are Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Glasgow Prestwick.

Table 8.6: Terminal passenger traffic by origin/destination, 2017
Other Scottish Airports Other UK Airports 1 UK offshore Eire Europe North America Rest of world Total
Aberdeen 317,138 1,436,948 364,999 47,473 923,186 - - 3,089,744
Barra 14,913 - - - - - - 14,913
Benbecula 33,259 211 - - - - - 33,470
Campbeltown 8,722 4 - - - - - 8,726
Dundee 46 20,671 - - - - - 20,717
Eday 578 - - - - - - 578
Edinburgh 122,174 5,145,981 - 719,189 6,751,084 417,466 252,768 13,408,662
Fair Isle 2,944 - - - - - - 2,944
Foula 1,298 - - - - - - 1,298
Glasgow 220,459 4,059,096 - 529,636 4,109,147 426,532 543,147 9,888,017
Inverness 54,402 720,993 47 17,576 78,003 - - 871,021
Islay 32,685 58 - - - - - 32,743
Kirkwall 176,120 1,066 16 - 505 - - 177,707
Lerwick (Tingwall) 4,139 - - - - - - 4,139
North Ronaldsay 6,285 - - - - - - 6,285
Oban 176 - - - - - - 176
Papa Stour 65 - - - - - - 65
Papa Westray 5,115 - - - - - - 5,115
Glasgow Prestwick 88 542 - 326 691,883 - - 692,839
Sanday 3,083 - - - - - - 3,083
Scatsta 94,640 - 77,901 - - - - 172,541
Stornoway 135,000 6,613 - - - - - 141,613
Stronsay 3,324 - - - - - - 3,324
Sumburgh 246,578 414 26,731 - 1,374 - - 275,097
Tiree 11,540 155 - - - - - 11,695
Westray 3,615 - - - - - - 3,615
Wick John O'Groats 18,060 - 4 - - - - 18,064
Total 1,516,446 11,392,752 469,698 1,314,200 12,555,182 843,998 795,915 28,888,191

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. Channel Islands and the Isle of Man were not included in previous editions of this table. Although they are now, they represent less than one percent of travel to other UK airports.

Table 8.7: Terminal air passengers by airport, international/domestic and type of service, 2017
Airport International/UK Offshore Domestic1 Total
Scheduled Charter Total Scheduled Charter Total
Aberdeen 880,200 455,492 1,335,692 1,622,341 132,239 1,754,580 3,090,272
Barra - - - 14,913 - 14,913 14,913
Benbecula - - - 33,258 - 33,258 33,258
Campbeltown - - - 8,726 - 8,726 8,726
Dundee - 398 398 20,821 108 20,929 21,327
Edinburgh 7,908,755 231,797 8,140,552 5,267,135 1,608 5,268,743 13,409,295
Glasgow 4,772,427 842,904 5,615,331 4,278,108 1,406 4,279,514 9,894,845
Glasgow Prestwick 689,730 3,868 693,598 - 2,071 2,071 695,669
Inverness 95,579 3,234 98,813 775,240 433 775,673 874,486
Islay - - - 32,392 - 32,392 32,392
Kirkwall 505 124 629 163,743 112 163,855 164,484
Lerwick (Tingwall) - - - 4,139 - 4,139 4,139
Scatsta - 77,901 77,901 - 92,925 92,925 170,826
Stornoway - - - 132,004 5 132,009 132,009
Sumburgh 1,374 26,896 28,270 187,743 40,380 228,123 256,393
Tiree - - - 12,137 - 12,137 12,137
Wick John O'Groats - 4 4 17,668 - 17,668 17,672
Total 14,348,570 1,642,618 15,991,188 12,570,368 271,287 12,841,655 28,832,843

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. Domestic traffic is counted both at the airport of arrival and at the airport of departure.
The total of domestic traffic is, therefore, only a measure of airport activity.
Statistics are not collected for some of the smaller airports on Orkney and Shetland and are therefore not included in any overall totals.

Table 8.8: Punctuality of flights at Edinburgh and Glasgow airports
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Edinburgh
Flights to/from UK origins / destinations numbers
Matched 75,021 72,499 64,086 58,282 58,404 56,926 55,314 54,580 58,822 57,931 58,314
Unmatched - actual 1 308 366 193 268 106 82 83 71 71 20 0
Unmatched - planned 2 816 517 365 1,083 274 257 224 212 285 - -
Percentage of flights late 3 percentages
early to 15 mins late 73 79 84 79 84 84 85 82 80 75 75
16 to 30 mins late 13 10 8 9 8 8 7 9 10 11 11
31 to 60 mins late 8 7 5 6 5 5 5 5 6 8 8
1 hr 1 min to 3 hrs late 5 4 3 5 3 3 3 4 4 6 5
3hrs 1 min to 6 hrs late 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
more than 6 hrs late 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
minutes
Average delay 4 15 12 10 13 9 9 9 10 12 15 14
All flights (UK and international) numbers
Matched 109,402 107,172 100,408 94,863 99,823 97,645 98,670 96,292 102,038 110,276 116,771
Unmatched - actual 1 613 518 387 492 276 188 150 113 134 36 1
Unmatched - planned 2 1,074 769 575 2,061 552 312 275 260 394 - -
Percentage of flights late 3 percentages
early to 15 mins late 73 77 82 77 83 84 84 82 78 73 73
16 to 30 mins late 13 11 9 10 9 8 8 9 11 13 14
31 to 60 mins late 8 7 5 7 5 5 4 5 6 8 9
1 hr 1 min to 3 hrs late 5 4 3 5 3 3 3 3 4 5 5
3hr 1 min to 6 hrs late 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
more than 6 hrs late 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
minutes
Average delay 4 16 13 11 15 10 9 9 9 12 15 15
Glasgow
Flights to/from UK origins / destinations numbers
Matched 65,538 60,243 51,934 47,933 46,214 47,010 46,137 47,175 50,524 51,293 52,683
Unmatched - actual 1 906 636 198 233 118 88 70 77 132 16 6
Unmatched - planned 2 726 375 274 763 305 240 205 229 247 - -
Percentage of flights late percentages
early to 15 mins late 77 79 85 80 85 85 84 83 77 77 77
16 to 30 mins late 11 10 7 8 7 7 7 8 10 10 10
31 to 60 mins late 7 7 4 6 4 4 5 5 7 7 7
1 hr 1 min to 3 hrs late 5 4 3 5 3 3 3 3 5 5 5
3hrs 1 min to 6 hrs late 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
more than 6 hrs late 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
minutes
Average delay 4 13 12 10 12 9 9 10 10 14 14 14
All flights (UK and international) numbers
Matched 91,886 85,274 73,262 68,291 69,507 71,637 71,901 73,396 79,618 83,691 88,246
Unmatched - actual 1 1,146 814 294 482 176 160 136 152 238 41 6
Unmatched - planned 2 908 526 330 1,175 393 297 252 262 314 - -
Percentage of flights late percentages
early to 15 mins late 74 75 82 77 83 83 83 82 76 75 75
16 to 30 mins late 11 11 8 9 8 8 8 9 11 11 12
31 to 60 mins late 8 8 5 7 5 5 5 5 7 8 8
1 hr 1 min to 3 hrs late 5 5 4 6 4 4 3 3 5 5 5
3hrs 1 min to 6 hrs late 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 0 1
more than 6 hrs late 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
minutes
Average delay 4 17 16 12 16 11 11 11 11 14 14 14

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. Air transport movements which took place but for which there was no corresponding planned flight (e.g. diversions from another airport to this airport)
2. Planned flights for which there was no air transport movement (e.g. flights that were cancelled or diverted to another airport).
Due to changes to the collection of planned flights, this data is no longer available.
3. The punctuality figures for Edinburgh for 2001 onwards are not comparable to the figures for 2000 and earlier years.
From January 2001, a different assumption has been used for the taxi-ing time for departures from Edinburgh airport.
4. The average delays for 2000 onwards are not comparable to the figures for 1999 and earlier years.
Up to December 1999, an early flight was counted as a "negative delay"; from January 2000, an early flights is counted as "zero delay" 

Table 8.9: Aircraft movements, by airport and type of movement, 2017 1
Commercial Movements Non-commercial Movements Total
Airport Air Transport Positioning Flights Local Movements Total Test and Training Other Flights by air transport operators Aero Club Private Official Millitary Business Total
Aberdeen 86,771 3,749 - 90,520 3,483 1,923 957 - - 31 93 6,487 97,007
Barra 1,311 3 - 1,314 - - - 98 - - - 98 1,412
Benbecula 3,160 197 6 3,363 2 - - 35 - 20 - 57 3,420
Campbeltown 1,084 93 - 1,177 6 - - 195 - 29 3 233 1,410
Dundee 1,388 306 203 1,897 1,445 99 33,211 783 6 138 517 36,199 38,096
Edinburgh 123,671 1,448 28 125,147 24 17 - 3,345 2 130 10 3,528 128,675
Glasgow 91,503 2,039 - 93,542 261 3,623 4,879 - 5 101 355 9,224 102,766
Glasgow Prestwick 5,063 363 - 5,426 5,780 - 7,089 2,567 - 4,035 - 19,471 24,897
Inverness 16,338 1,836 436 18,610 1,839 168 8,425 1,271 - 157 532 12,392 31,002
Islay 1,872 140 - 2,012 6 - - 608 - 11 - 625 2,637
Kirkwall 13,196 811 20 14,027 367 141 - 197 - 8 14 727 14,754
Lerwick (Tingwall) 1,387 268 47 1,702 2 - - 91 - - - 93 1,795
Scatsta 7,661 436 - 8,097 123 4 - - - - - 127 8,224
Stornoway 8,889 393 244 9,526 916 - - 333 - 149 - 1,398 10,924
Sumburgh 17,974 1,848 230 20,052 951 1,288 - 28 - 28 - 2,295 22,347
Tiree 1,771 14 2 1,787 1 - - 115 - - - 116 1,903
Wick John O'Groats 2,042 823 10 2,875 134 114 1 654 - 45 4 952 3,827
Total 385,081 14,767 1,226 401,074 15,340 7,377 54,562 10,320 13 4,882 1,528 94,022 495,096

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. Statistics are not collected for some of the smaller airports on Orkney and Shetland and are therefore not included in any overall totals.

Table 8.10: Air transport movements by airport, type of service and operator, 2017 2
Airport Scheduled Charter Air taxi 1 movements Total
UK Operators Over seas Operators Total UK Operators Over seas Operators Total
Aberdeen 35,331 12,668 47,999 30,197 3,730 33,927 3,801 85,727
Barra 1,394 - 1,394 - - - 3 1,397
Benbecula 1,827 - 1,827 - - - 1,384 3,211
Campbeltown 1,073 1 1,074 - - - 99 1,173
Dundee 1,139 - 1,139 2 33 35 218 1,392
Edinburgh 78,687 41,709 120,396 1,338 973 2,311 921 123,628
Glasgow 62,303 22,015 84,318 4,010 470 4,480 2,357 91,155
Glasgow Prestwick - 4,869 4,869 42 77 119 88 5,076
Inverness 11,107 1,079 12,186 34 25 59 4,170 16,415
Islay 1,908 - 1,908 - - 0 159 2,067
Kirkwall 11,996 - 11,996 8 4 12 1,480 13,488
Lerwick (Tingwall) 1,023 - 1,023 - - - 366 1,389
Scatsta - - - 7,780 - 7,780 - 7,780
Stornoway 6,918 - 6,918 - 1 1 2,114 9,033
Sumburgh 8,177 - 8,177 3,277 168 3,445 5,259 16,881
Tiree 1,764 - 1,764 - - - 161 1,925
Wick John O'Groats 1,749 - 1,749 - 1 1 369 2,119
Total 226,396 82,341 308,737 46,688 5,482 52,170 22,949 383,856

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. A breakdown of air taxi movements between scheduled and chartered aircraft transport movements is no longer available. They have therefore been shown as a separate category.
2. Statistics are not collected for some of the smaller airports on Orkney and Shetland, which are therefore not included in any overall totals.

Table 8.11: Air transport movements1
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Aberdeen 102,989 108,453 106,366 99,419 92,287 99,452 104,227 106,755 112,537 106,755 86,735 85,727
Barra 1,265 1,209 1,262 1,199 1,178 1,183 1,319 881 888 881 1,322 1,397
Benbecula 4,052 4,320 4,145 4,292 3,965 3,912 3,958 3,286 3,013 3,286 3,194 3,211
Campbeltown 1,268 1,307 1,216 1,359 1,251 1,133 1,105 1,123 1,150 1,123 1,135 1,173
Dundee 2,523 3,513 3,910 4,159 3,838 3,033 2,872 1,543 1,407 1,543 1,651 1,392
Edinburgh 118,690 120,096 118,899 111,059 104,288 108,708 106,958 106,748 103,388 106,748 117,293 123,628
Glasgow 99,157 97,277 90,977 77,874 71,598 72,377 74,615 75,585 77,447 75,585 90,734 91,155
Glasgow Prestwick 19,464 20,454 20,427 15,496 13,135 10,017 8,166 8,623 6,659 8,623 4,698 5,076
Inverness 20,601 19,352 17,936 15,791 13,254 15,097 14,814 14,425 13,886 14,425 15,258 16,415
Islay 1,738 1,731 1,869 1,677 1,809 2,004 1,817 1,739 1,730 1,739 1,774 2,067
Kirkwall 13,226 14,008 14,121 13,849 12,945 12,599 12,400 12,951 12,935 12,951 12,927 13,488
Lerwick (Tingwall) 2,029 1,913 1,863 2,011 1,652 1,817 1,783 1,748 1,583 1,748 1,802 1,389
Scatsta 11,445 11,333 10,743 12,704 12,731 13,199 13,915 13,338 12,503 13,338 7,468 7,780
Stornoway 9,646 9,741 10,028 9,484 8,842 9,190 9,367 8,644 8,358 8,644 8,426 9,033
Sumburgh 8,453 9,861 9,812 8,435 8,237 9,156 10,963 13,606 14,677 13,606 17,534 16,881
Tiree 753 755 937 1,109 1,023 1,019 1,121 1,111 1,138 1,111 1,854 1,925
Unst - - - - - - - - - - - -
Wick John O'Groats 3,253 2,860 2,571 2,776 2,394 2,416 2,660 4,276 2,885 4,276 2,147 2,119
Total 420,552 428,183 417,082 382,693 354,427 366,312 372,060 376,382 376,184 376,382 375,952 383,856

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. Statistics are not collected for some of the smaller airports on Orkney and Shetland and are therefore not included in any overall totals.

Table 8.12: Total aircraft movements, by airport 1
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Aberdeen 116,971 121,927 119,831 109,876 102,396 108,862 115,013 118,219 124,282 118,219 96,156 97,007
Barra 1,321 1,296 1,310 1,356 1,252 1,258 1,403 966 988 966 1,345 1,412
Benbecula 4,462 4,810 4,660 4,779 4,402 4,366 4,478 3,708 3,504 3,708 3,648 3,420
Campbeltown 3,837 3,674 1,921 2,418 2,334 1,993 1,527 1,596 1,628 1,596 1,452 1,410
Dundee 37,444 37,292 36,297 39,274 37,169 36,815 40,926 40,427 35,730 40,427 36,730 38,096
Edinburgh 126,914 128,172 125,550 115,969 108,997 113,357 110,288 111,736 109,545 111,736 122,220 128,675
Glasgow 110,034 108,305 100,087 85,281 77,755 78,111 80,472 79,520 84,000 79,520 98,127 102,766
Glasgow Prestwick 48,189 47,910 42,708 34,230 33,087 28,546 25,670 24,305 25,643 24,305 25,714 24,897
Inverness 40,826 39,139 40,538 30,290 28,155 30,755 31,764 28,947 28,495 28,947 30,450 31,002
Islay 2,558 2,650 2,625 2,603 2,775 3,003 2,969 2,637 2,610 2,637 2,540 2,637
Kirkwall 14,719 15,574 15,982 15,590 14,535 14,131 13,980 14,403 14,420 14,403 14,539 14,754
Lerwick (Tingwall) 2,131 2,050 2,085 2,157 1,859 1,926 1,924 2,084 2,169 2,084 2,426 1,795
Scatsta 12,335 12,961 12,951 14,364 13,841 14,475 15,587 14,668 13,778 14,668 7,894 8,224
Stornoway 12,363 12,716 13,072 11,627 10,952 11,255 11,564 11,049 10,909 11,049 10,600 10,924
Sumburgh 12,185 13,984 14,758 12,159 11,118 12,228 14,045 16,771 18,171 16,771 21,129 22,347
Tiree 858 868 1,071 1,316 1,210 1,111 1,224 1,247 1,295 1,247 1,937 1,903
Unst - - - - - - - - - - - -
Wick John O'Groats 6,721 6,327 7,221 6,231 4,754 4,734 5,474 7,787 5,711 7,787 4,427 3,827
Total 553,868 559,655 542,667 489,520 456,591 466,926 478,308 480,070 482,878 480,070 481,334 495,096

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. Statistics are not collected for some of the smaller airports on Orkney and Shetland, which are therefore not included in any overall totals.

Table 8.13: Freight carried by airport1
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
tonnes
Aberdeen 3,434 4,006 3,822 4,211 5,311 6,166 7,102 6,278 6,545 5,731 5,870
Barra 3 37 34 34 29 29 27 26 21 19 15 15
Benbecula 3 590 587 564 531 466 475 457 310 313 339 346
Campbeltown 3 2 1 1 1 1 - 1 - - - -
Dundee - - - - - - - - - - -
Edinburgh 2 19,292 12,418 23,791 20,357 19,332 19,115 18,624 19,369 19,322 20,369 20,659
Glasgow 2 4,276 3,546 2,334 2,914 2,430 9,497 11,837 15,411 13,193 12,952 15,935
Glasgow Prestwick 31,517 22,966 13,385 12,163 11,846 10,314 9,526 12,540 11,242 10,822 11,393
Inverness 3 2,347 2,104 2,443 2,800 1,833 2,601 2,524 2,507 2,507 2,584 2,536
Islay 3 312 335 340 310 287 284 273 276 288 303 308
Kirkwall 3 709 730 646 777 132 97 103 107 94 97 246
Lerwick (Tingwall) - - - - - - - - - - -
Scatsta 765 723 752 765 808 873 849 788 702 456 490
Stornoway 3 1,717 1,610 1,641 1,630 1,659 1,704 1,752 1,200 1,173 1,153 1,271
Sumburgh 3 1,036 1,109 1,075 990 979 990 1,095 1,018 998 1,005 1,150
Tiree 3 60 56 56 52 49 57 55 52 44 53 44
Unst - - - - - - - - - - -
Wick John O'Groats 3 8 3 2 2 1 - 1 1 1 1 -
Total 66,103 50,228 50,886 47,532 45,162 52,200 54,225 59,878 56,441 55,880 60,263

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. Statistics are not collected for some of the smaller airports on Orkney and Shetland, which are therefore not included in any overall totals.
2. The change in the figures for Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1998 was due to a company switching its parcel hub from Glasgow to Edinburgh in 1998.
3. Data for these airports previously came from CAA which does not hold detailed information (passengers/freight carried) etc for charter services operated by aircraft  below 15 tonnes  Maximum Take Off Mass . However, more detailed information including smaller aircraft has now been obtained from Highland & Islands airports Ltd and the figures have been revised back to 2000.

Table 8.14: Characteristics of terminal passengers, 20131
Airport International passengers Domestic passengers All services All
Business Leisure Business Leisure Business Leisure UK resid. Foreign resid.
UK resid. Non UK resid. UK resid. Non UK resid. UK resid. Non UK resid. UK resid. Non UK resid.
  row percentages
Aberdeen 12.4 7.5 10.7 5.5 33.8 3.0 24.3 2.9 56.7 43.4 81.2 18.9 100
Edinburgh 4.4 3.6 26.6 17.8 21.2 1.3 20.7 4.4 30.5 69.5 72.9 27.1 100
Glasgow 2.5 2.1 38.9 7.1 20.7 1.2 24.5 3.1 26.5 73.6 86.6 13.5 100
Inverness 1.0 0.5 1.6 3.0 29.7 1.3 56.4 6.6 32.5 67.6 88.7 11.4 100

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. The CAA survey collected statistics only for the airports shown in the table.

Table 8.15: Mode of surface transport used to arrive at the airport 1 
Airport 2 Bus and rail Car and taxi Other modes Total all modes*
Bus / coach Rail Total bus + rail Private car Hire car Taxi / minicab Total car + taxi
 row percentages 
Aberdeen 1975 13 0 13 50 7 28 85 3 101
1982 9 0 9 50 8 30 88 3 100
1990 6 0 6 49 8 36 93 1 100
1996 5 0 5 55 7 32 94 1 100
2001 4.7 0.0 4.7 49.2 5.2 38.8 93.2 2.1 100
2005 6.2 0.0 6.2 49.5 6.1 36.9 92.5 1.3 100
2009 3 5.7 3.3 9.0 48.1 3.9 36.6 88.6 2.4 100
2013 3 9.0 3.5 12.5 43.6 4.0 38.4 85.9 1.6 100
Edinburgh 1970 24 0 24 54 6 13 73 3 100
1975 22 0 22 55 8 14 77 1 100
1982 9 0 9 61 10 19 90 2 101
1990 7 0 7 56 10 25 91 1 99
1996 9 0 9 53 10 28 91 0 100
2001 18.4 0.0 18.4 46.8 6.3 28.1 81.2 0.4 100
2005 19.3 0.0 19.3 48.6 5.8 25.7 80.1 0.6 100
2009 3 26.9 2.6 29.5 43.2 5.3 21.3 69.9 0.6 100
2013 3 9.2 3.8 13.0 38.5 1.0 21.8 61.3 25.7 100
Glasgow 1970 24 0 24 54 4 16 74 2 100
1975 16 0 16 60 4 19 83 1 100
1982 8 0 8 70 4 17 91 1 100
1990 8 0 8 62 7 22 91 2 101
1996 7 0 7 61 7 23 91 1 99
2001 8.3 0.0 8.3 60.1 4.9 26.0 91.0 0.7 100
2005 10.7 0.0 10.7 57.6 4.4 26.4 88.4 0.9 100
2009 3 11.6 3.1 14.7 51.6 4.0 27.0 82.5 2.8 100
2013 3 14.1 4.2 18.3 50.4 0.7 25.7 76.7 5.0 100
Glas. Prestwick 2005 3.6 20.8 24.4 57.2 12.5 5.2 74.9 0.7 100
2009 3 11.0 26.7 37.7 44.8 5.5 9.8 60.2 2.1 100
Inverness 1990 7 0 7 62 15 15 92 1 100
1996 6 0 6 57 17 17 91 3 100
2001 4.0 0.0 4.0 56.3 17.1 20.8 94.2 1.8 100
2005 4.9 0.0 4.9 60.5 17.9 14.4 92.8 2.3 100
2009 3 9.1 2.2 11.4 55.6 18.3 12.5 86.4 2.3 100
2013 3 17.1 3.3 20.4 49.6 8.5 11.8 69.9 9.7 100

Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. The CAA surveys collected statistics only for the airports shown in the table.  These results are based on a departure survey only.
The CAA's assumption, for weighting purposes, is that arriving and departing passengers share the same modal characteristics
The next survey which included Scottish airports took place in 2018 and will be published in the 2019 edition of STS.
2. Airports are shown only for the years for which figures are given in the CAA survey reports for 1996 (which also gives earlier years' results), 2001, 2005 and 2009.
3. A small adjustment has been made to the percentages due to an error in the calculations used to produce the figures.
*. The figures for 1996 and earlier years may appear not to total 100% because they were rounded independently and then given only as whole percentages. The mode of transport includes cases where more than one form of transport is used.

Table 8.16: Origins/destinations of terminating passengers: 2013
Aberdeen Edinburgh Glasgow Inverness Total
thousands
Borders - 188 21 - 209
Central 2 541 278 - 821
Dumfries & Galloway - 38 81 - 119
Fife 9 994 139 - 1,142
Grampian 2,354 223 159 110 2,846
Highlands & Islands 67 160 166 470 863
Lothian 7 5,753 303 1 6,064
Strathclyde 20 828 5,667 - 6,515
Tayside 67 781 267 2 1,117
Total all Scottish areas 2,526 9,506 7,081 583 19,696
England & Wales 17 117 59 - 193
  2,543 9,623 7,140 583 19,889

All passengers  2
Source: Civil Aviation Authority - Not National Statistics
1. The CAA survey collected statistics only for the airports shown in the table.  
2. Terminating passengers are those who arrive at or depart from an airport by surface means of transport.  As explained in the Notes and Definitions, their numbers are not the same as the numbers of terminal  passengers: the latter also include transfer passengers (people who change aircraft at an airport).