Early years In 1916,
Turnhouse Aerodrome opened as the northernmost British air defence base in
World War I used by the
Royal Flying Corps. In 1918, the Royal Air Force was formed and the airfield was named
RAF Turnhouse and ownership was transferred to the
Air Ministry. From 1925, the small base was used to house the
603 (City of Edinburgh) Squadron, which consisted of
DH 9As,
Westland Wapitis,
Hawker Harts, and
Hawker Hind light bombers. All the aircraft used a grass airstrip. In 1939, when the
Second World War broke out,
RAF Fighter Command took control over the airfield and a runway of was paved to handle the
Supermarine Spitfire. During the
Battle of Britain,
3,
65, and
141 Squadrons were present at the airbase.
Post-Second World War After 1945, when WW2 ended, the airfield remained under military control. It was officially opened for commercial traffic on 19 May 1947. The first commercial flight to use the airport was a
British European Airways service from London (
Northolt) to
Shetland, with Edinburgh and
Aberdeen being intermediate stopping points. The aircraft was an 18-seat Douglas C47.
BAA ownership On 1 April 1971, the
British Airports Authority (BAA) took over ownership of the airport, at a time when the original terminal building was running at about eight times its design capacity. Immediate improvements to the terminal were cosmetic, such as extra seating and TV monitors for flight information, and it took two years for plans to be proposed for a completely new terminal and runway redesign. Public consultation on planning started in November 1971 and ended in February 1972. The initial stages of the redevelopment began in June 1973; they included a diversion of the
River Almond. Work on the new terminal building, designed by
Sir Robert Matthew, started in March 1975, and the building was officially opened by
Queen Elizabeth II on 27 May 1977. International service from Edinburgh began in 1962 with direct service to
Dublin, but for many years international flights were charter and private only. This started to change during the late 1970s, with direct services to continental Europe (
Amsterdam, 1975). By the mid-1980s, direct routes included
Paris,
Düsseldorf,
Brussels,
Frankfurt and
Copenhagen, but direct transatlantic flights were not yet possible as
Glasgow-Prestwick was the only "designated gateway" in Scotland under the US-UK
Bermuda II Agreement. By the time BAA had been privatised in 1987, Edinburgh Airport handled over 1.8 million passengers each year; compared to the 681,000 passengers handled in 1971 when BAA first took control of the airport. RAF Turnhouse was operational near the passenger terminal of the airport for all of the post-war period but was finally closed in 1997. On 19 October 2011, BAA Limited announced its intention to sell the airport, following a decision by the UK's
Competition Commission requiring BAA to sell either
Glasgow Airport or Edinburgh Airport. BAA announced on 23 April 2012 that it had sold Edinburgh Airport to
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for a price of £807.2 million, equivalent to £ million in .
GIP ownership In 2013, a further extension to the passenger terminal was announced, taking the terminal building up to the Edinburgh Airport tram stop. The
Edinburgh Trams opening in May 2014 created the first rail connection to Edinburgh Airport. Whilst the number of passengers has increased, the number of flights decreased in 2014 due to planes operating at a higher capacity. Passenger traffic at Edinburgh Airport reached a record level in 2015 with over 11.1 million passengers and over 109,000 aircraft movements. In February 2016, consultancy firm Biggar Economics announced that Edinburgh Airport contributes almost £1 billion annually to the Scottish economy. As part of the expansion works, Runway 12/30 was officially withdrawn from use on 29 March 2018.
VINCI ownership On 17 April 2024,
Vinci SA announced that it had reached an agreement with GIP to acquire a 50.01% shareholding of the airport for £1.27 billion, with GIP retaining 49.99%. The transaction was concluded on 25 June 2024. In December 2024, Edinburgh Airport became the first in Scotland to record over 15 million passengers in a calendar year. ==Airlines and destinations==