It will never happen because:
(1) there is no business case and there needs to be as UK airports are private (as is/was the case with Boris island);
(2) it would never get past all the planning hurdles;
(3) there is no need for it, Abbotsinch and Turnhouse are nowhere near capacity and Prestwick is hardly operating at all.

Being wholly private means short termism wins over legacy and planning. Sure EDI and GLA are growing strongly and making money for their shareholders, but over the next 50+ years would a proper greenfield site plugged into national rail be better for the country?
EDI is well beyond design capacity and is now at the 1970s Heathrow stage of just bolting add ons left right and centre after closing two “spare” runways and kicking out all GA. That does have an ROI and kicks the full rebuild can 15 years down the road but that airfield needs a whole new terminal sooner rather than later.
Of course the Govt would have to buy out and close both GLA/EDI and that’s not affordable sadly. Strangely enough, suddenly, there’s something to be said for a BAA type of operation. Competiton is driving traffic in Scotland but at the price of two less than stellar airports.

https://www.edinburghairport.com/abo...-start-to-2018

up 7.1%. much stronger than I expected.

Nince Ryanair growth in EDI, at GLA's demise
https://corporate.ryanair.com/news/r...rom-edinburgh/

extra a/c and 11 new routes. not bad indeed

Any frequency growths on the services lost at Glasgow, but continuing/launching at Edinburgh?

Wonder if Emirates will get the message and follow Ryanair to EDI?

That's a very different affair.

Main thing Edinburgh’s runway too small for 777W & A380 with loads available at Glasgow. Edinburgh’s Middle East flights loads are not exactly setting the heather on fire. EK is very profitable at Glasgow, gets special treatment and the majority of the communities it serves live in the West. In EK’s mind Edinburgh is served by both GLA & NCL. Unless a super Airport is built in Lanarkshire or Stirlingshire we need both airports being successful and competing with each other. If some of the my airport bigger than your airport people have to remember no competitor higher fares, higher fees and horrendous parking costs!!!

GLAEDI, Edinburgh's runway is not too small for B777W and A380. The length is perfectly acceptable for most routes that might reasonably be expected at EDI in the foreseeable future and the PCN has been significantly increased. The shoulders on taxiways have recently been widened to make it easier for these aircraft to manoeuvre. Even before these works, B777Ws have operated from EDI on many occasions. The impediment to these aircraft regularly using EDI used to be the PCNs but most of these have increased as a result of recent works. EDI now has two new stands which are A380 sized and at least two more that can accommodate B777Ws.

The market will decide. FR seem to have found that the profitable shorthaul market is at EDI. Other markets seem to prefer GLA.
Who knows where we will be even two years from now. Will a Chinese service actually happen? With Finnair going year round, will some of the China and Japan market switch to the shorter route via Helsinki?

Thanks InOban markets will decide but sometimes I feel that people make comments on routes getting cancelled at another airport with glee, oh I hope EK move as well blah blah, forgetting that 300(which I believe is a bit exaggerated) have lost their jobs & career in an area of Scotland (Paisley down to Gourock and Greenock) where unemployment is high especially in low entry requirement jobs like Menzies & Swissport roles. These people will find it hard to find new jobs, most are mothers & fathers with child care. They can’t move to Edinburgh to work. I work in both airports and I want both to expand. Yes it would have been better in 60’s we built a single airport but politically that wouldn’t happen it sited the politics at the time to have the regions fly through LHR. Also we couldn’t even build the M8 the most important road in Scotland until 2017!! And even now it really is a jumped up A class road from Blackhill to Edinburgh. Two lanes to serve 3.5m people! Sorry for rant but I just feel the the people being made redundant are more important than what Airport is biggest

I quite agree. Obviously GLA is my nearest airport, although for family reasons EDI is more convenient. I am delighted to see the revival of, for example, shipbuilding at Ferguson, and if we do manage to rebalance the economy towards real industries, the West of Scotland will thrive again. But the airline business, except for a few PSO routes, operates in the free market. Which is why I can't understand why PIK remains open for scheduled flights.
My sympathies to to the lower paid employees who may lose their jobs.

I agree with you but that should also be taken into account by those shouting for the closure of PIK. There will be significant job losses there too if that happens. We shouldn't only worry about it when it happens at GLA or EDI.

I imagine EDI might be on EK's radar once the B787-10s start arriving but that's still a few years off...

Quite, I've read a few comments online now bemoaning this decision but then shouting for the suspension of FR ops and closure of PIK. Bit hypocritical...

As horrible as any job losses are, there's no way that number is going to be 300 from this move, that's just FR with their usual grossly exaggerated numbers. Air crew will be reassigned and any ground crew reductions will ideally be restricted to fixed term contracts that would terminate at end of S18 anyway.

PIK really needs to look alternatives in its product. Maybe the SG money instead of paying for a huge terminal look at a smaller one so Ryanair can continue cycling in frames for maintenance using PIK routes and some alternative actions, one with the way Brexit is going could be a Customs point with the Island of Ireland for goods. There’s going to be a lot of products needing cleared for circulation into the EU & U.K. markets. There’s a lot of job in Ayrshire reliant on PIK also.

Ryanair got 100% on their 3 flights in and out from PIK today. Not sure if all the outward passengers made the flight or if the inwards got home.
This snow is weird, it must have been lighter down there. I looked at the Oban webcam this afternoon and it was like a Summers day up there.

The Norwegian flight to Bradley Locks was struck by lightning on departure tonight and did a swift circuit of Central Scotland, before landing back at EDI.

It may have looked like a summer's day in Oban. I can assure you that it was perishing cold. Below freezing all day. The hills looked beautiful.

I'd like to offer huge congratulations to the staff at Edinburgh Airport yesterday for keeping the airport open for most of the day despite atrocious weather conditions. Most flight cancellations were due to crew and passengers being unable to reach the airport. The runway remained open apart from some short, pre-planned interludes for snow clearing.

Looking at the Jan 18 C.A.A. stats for Kevlavik-Edinburgh now has nearly double the amount of passengers compared to Glasgow (just over 11000). Surely Icelandair must be looking closely at starting the route as well or will they continue with Glasgow only? Does Icelandair and WOW compete on any other singular route?

Regards 4ea