Edinburgh Airport announces £500million investment plan

[och aye]

Large investment announced to expand EDI.

Edinburgh Airport announces £500million investment plan | Edinburgh Airport

corporate.edinburghairport.com

Edinburgh Airport has unveiled the first phase of the largest capital investment programme in its history, with more than £500 million to be invested over the next five years.

The five-year programme is the first phase of a wider multi-year investment vision for Edinburgh Airport and its campus, with projects including:

• New gates to support route growth.
• New aircraft stands to handle more aircraft movements.
• An expanded check-in hall and departure lounge to improve passenger flow and comfort.
• A terminal footprint increase of 60%.
• New and improved retail, food, and beverage areas, offering more choice for passengers.
• New international arrival facilities and baggage make-up and reclaim areas.

Mini site and video:

Our Future | Edinburgh Airport

corporate.edinburghairport.com

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I am not complaining but I am surprised at this. Did not realise it could realise that sort of growth to justify this sort of expenditure.

 

[Snow1964]

Latest figures for Edinburgh airport (July) are 1,879,920 passengers (6% higher than 2025. Last year July was its busiest month as usage peaks in summer

https://www.caa.co.uk/Documents/Download/26835/3da8b582-a7bc-4678-8f53-2873ddc395d5/17825

But as monthly usage is seasonal, also worth considering annual passengers 17,488,000

https://www.caa.co.uk/Documents/Download/26835/3da8b582-a7bc-4678-8f53-2873ddc395d5/17811

So an investment of £500m is around £29 per passenger in a year (or £1 per passenger for 29 years)

 

[Scotrail344Lad]

In terms of public transport and car parking, will the current facilities at Edinburgh Airport be sufficient? Also - I have noticed that with this expansion they appear to be doing away with all of the bus stops at the front of the terminal, where will they put these buses (currently all the public buses at the airport stop there so who knows!)?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

I flew out of Edinburgh on Wednesday 23rd September 2026. It is a nice airport with great transport connections. The British Airways lounge was nice too. I will watch the expansion keenly.

 

[route101]

In terms of public transport and car parking, will the current facilities at Edinburgh Airport be sufficient? Also - I have noticed that with this expansion they appear to be doing away with all of the bus stops at the front of the terminal, where will they put these buses (currently all the public buses at the airport stop there so who knows!)?

Edinburgh Airport could do with a bus station. There is coach bays which see occasional use by scheduled services.

 

[Butts]

Edinburgh Airport could do with a bus station. There is coach bays which see occasional use by scheduled services.

If they are throwing around this sort of money it could do with an Airside Smoking Area ?

 

[Bishops]

If they are throwing around this sort of money it could do with an Airside Smoking Area ?

they cant make money from that

 

[Butts]

they cant make money from that

Might be able to if they charged £1 to get in like Aberdeen does

 

[Bishops]

Might be able to if they charged £1 to get in like Aberdeen does

Thats probably cos they know the riggers will be happy to pay to smoke as much as possible before they get to the rigs

 

[Struner]

fine idea! charge for access to stinking area

 

[najaB]

Notably, I didn't see any mention of USA Pre-clearance facilities.

 

[AlterEgo]

Notably, I didn't see any mention of USA Pre-clearance facilities.

Preclearance would require a bilateral treaty between the UK and USA, which I don't think will ever happen for various reasons.

 

[najaB]

Preclearance would require a bilateral treaty between the UK and USA, which I don't think will ever happen for various reasons.

"Ever" is a very long time. Edinburgh Airport executives have been working on it for a long time and they were, as of late last year, fairly confident of it happening within a year or two.

The current US administration won't last forever, so I'm surprised that there's zero mention of pre-clearance in this expansion plan, even as a 'passive provision'.

 

[AlterEgo]

"Ever" is a very long time. Edinburgh Airport executives have been working on it for a long time and they were, as of late last year, fairly confident of it happening within a year or two.

The current US administration won't last forever, so I'm surprised that there's zero mention of pre-clearance in this expansion plan, even as a 'passive provision'.

Hot air, I wager. The CEO of Edinburgh Airport also seemed to think such a treaty was in the gift of the Scottish Government, which was highly confusing at the time. Allowing foreign agents to process immigration matters on UK soil would be a reserved matter. Preclearance is a very very long way off and was so even under Obama and Biden. I am not surprised there isn't passive provision.

 

[AlastairFraser]

"Ever" is a very long time. Edinburgh Airport executives have been working on it for a long time and they were, as of late last year, fairly confident of it happening within a year or two.

The current US administration won't last forever, so I'm surprised that there's zero mention of pre-clearance in this expansion plan, even as a 'passive provision'.

Why would you invest in preclearance facilities in Edinburgh, when Dublin or Shannon are just short hops away?
I understand it's a popular destination for US tourists, but it's a single runway airport, and not exactly underused as it is.
It's not a suitable location for a GB preclearance facility that could pull hundreds of thousands of travellers in from the rest of the UK.
If you were to choose one in Scotland, Glasgow has far more capacity, although I will admit the lack of decent public transport links and low tourist demand makes it less likely.

 

[najaB]

Why would you invest in preclearance facilities in Edinburgh, when Dublin or Shannon are just short hops away?

For the reason that any airport would - to increase their attractiveness and potentially win extra business. For most of Scotland and parts of northern England it would remove that extra Dublin leg, and EDI already has a decent amount of lift into the USA, this week there are flights to MCO, ATL, ORD, IAD, PHL, EWR, and JFK.

It's not a suitable location for a GB preclearance facility that could pull hundreds of thousands of travellers in from the rest of the UK.

But, if you're spending £500M on improvements...

 

[AlastairFraser]

For the reason that any airport would - to increase their attractiveness and potentially win extra business. For most of Scotland and parts of northern England it would remove that extra Dublin leg, and EDI already has a decent amount of lift into the USA, this week there are flights to MCO, ATL, ORD, IAD, PHL, EWR, and JFK.

But it couldn't handle the significant uplift in US departures and passenger numbers that a preclearance facility would bring, unless they somehow manage to restore the second runway.
I get that it would increase their attractiveness, but the site just isn't suited to it, without major expansion to the airfield itself, not just the the terminal.

But, if you're spending £500M on improvements...

Then you'd put money into immediately profitable expansions like more gates, more lucrative parking spaces, a better terminal (including a bus terminal that has been suggested on here before, you could raise operator fees for using it if you really wanted to).

 

[David M]

If pre-clearance from Scotland became reality then the airport that should be used is Prestwick - it was specifically built for transatlantic flights as it basically never gets shut down by bad weather.

 

[najaB]

If pre-clearance from Scotland became reality then the airport that should be used is Prestwick - it was specifically built for transatlantic flights as it basically never gets shut down by bad weather.

The only problem there is that Prestwick is located pretty much exactly where nobody wants to go.

 

[Bald Rick]

But it couldn't handle the significant uplift in US departures and passenger numbers that a preclearance facility would bring

Why would it have a significant uplift in US departures and passenger numbers? Well, significant enough to mean it couldnt handle them? It’s not an issue at Dublin, and certainly not Shannon!

 

[berneyarms]

Why would it have a significant uplift in US departures and passenger numbers? Well, significant enough to mean it couldnt handle them? It’s not an issue at Dublin, and certainly not Shannon!

To be fair Dublin has expanded dramatically since US pre-clearance came in first, expanding the original terminal, then adding a second terminal, and more recently adding another runway, and is now looking to expand further to cope with up to 40m passengers per year.

I’m not suggesting that Edinburgh would come close to that but Dublin Airport has expanded massively as an airport as has the the range of US destinations.

 

[deltic]

Anyother nail in the coffin for Glasgow airport then?

 

[Bald Rick]

To be fair Dublin has expanded dramatically since US pre-clearance came in first, expanding the original terminal, then adding a second terminal, and more recently adding another runway, and is now looking to expand further to cope with up to 40m passengers per year.

I’m not suggesting that Edinburgh would come close to that but Dublin Airport has expanded massively as an airport as has the the range of US destinations.

Sure, but there’s no US destination in the top 10 from Dublin, and travellers to the whole of the US represent rather less than 10% of all passengers through the airport.

Even if Edinburgh expanded its US operation to the size of Dublin’s, it would only add 2m passengers. (Compared to 17m now).

 

[najaB]

It's not included in the current plans, but as a speculative idea there's space for a small segregated terminal serving the 3xx parking stands with maybe 6 widebody gates/12 narrowbody gates.