Edinburgh to get new terminal extension starting in September

[Scottie]

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=955772005

Airport opens the gates to more flyers with £14m extension plan

ALAN RODEN

EDINBURGH Airport's terminal building is in line for a major extension to help cope with soaring passenger numbers.

Airport chiefs will spend around £14 million on a new pier boasting five extra boarding gates. Work on the development, which will take the number of gates from 18 to 23, is expected to start in the autumn.


The development will reduce the number of "coaching gates" for passengers travelling on jumbo jets, such as Boeing 747s. The size of these aircraft means they cannot park beside the terminal building. Instead, passengers are taken by bus to and from the aircraft on the tarmac...................................

[GoEDI]

£14 million? That doesn't really get you much of a terminal extension these days, does it?

[ClickRich]

The word "extension" is a little misleading. Technically yes, a pier is an extension, but don't imagine this as an extension to a terminal which resembles a shopping mall with check in, central search etc. This is downstream of that.

I'd have thought £14m will buy a decent pier with 5 gates. If the pier is to feed the stands which already exist to the east of the terminal, rather than having to build new ones, then you might even get some toilets, newsagent and coffee bar too :hmm:

[Carnethy]

Have any plans been released yet? I'm trying to visualise where this new pier is going to be.
On that note, where did the Virgin 744 and the A346 park recently for the G8 summit? If there are any pics of these anywhere on the net let me know. Proves the point that the runway length is OK though I doubt they were fully loaded.

[ClickRich]

Virgin 744 @ EDI

http://www.airliners.net/open.file/878691/M/

[GoEDI]

Have any plans been released yet? I'm trying to visualise where this new pier is going to be.

It is going to be built on the South East apron, where all the smaller props and RJs currently park normally.

On that note, where did the Virgin 744 and the A346 park recently for the G8 summit? If there are any pics of these anywhere on the net let me know. Proves the point that the runway length is OK though I doubt they were fully loaded.

They both parked on the secondary runway. There was never going to be a problem with runway length at all, not least because they were only going as far as LHR. Do a search on the airliners.net and jetphotos.net etc for pics.

[Scottie]

I think it will be pretty much like Luton's new pier. I've heard there will be an overhead walkway to it from the existing terminal.

Personally I think it's great news as I'm fed up waiting for stands to become vacant on the main apron.

I don't think you'll get 5 air bridges and a pier for £14m! So perhaps this could be the new Low Cost side of Edinburgh airport? A glorified shed would do :D

Would suit us down to the ground :D

[GoEDI]

There was an artists impression in a local newspaper yesterday, which I managed to miss!:* From what I've read though, it didn't feature airbridges.

[jabird]

Just on a quick technical point, would I be right in thinking that this "extension" would be built under PDRs, or would they need to have got approval from the local worthies before going ahead?

£14m sounds much better value, and much more use, than a certain other "public" building in Edinburgh I can think of.

[Scottie]

GO EDI, what local paper was it? I'll walk down to my local library and have a rummage through the evening news. See if its in there.

Jabird, this has been backed by the local authority so I take it is a done deal.

[ClickRich]

I don't think you'll get 5 air bridges and a pier for £14m!
Correct, like LTN, it won't have air bridges. That would have pushed the price into a whole different range.

[Torquelink]

"glorified shed" = Saab 340?

:D

[Meeb]

and with none of the character of the original Shed.... ;)

oops... thread creep.... :rolleyes:

[Scottie]

With this new "Low Cost" terminal will EDI get the routes it deserves by eJ?

[billyg]

Scottie , if by ej you mean EZY then I would doubt it. Rumour has it that now that GSM are to serve GVA this winter from EDI that EZY will announce GVA-GLA plus possibly two more new GLA routes. BAA are due to release their GLA "masterplan" within the next fortnight and the story goes that EZY new route(s) will be announced the same day! I think the NCL effect has put paid to any new EZY euro start-ups from EDI.

[GoEDI]

GO EDI, what local paper was it? I'll walk down to my local library and have a rummage through the evening news. See if its in there.

It was the Evening News from the 13th of July.

With this new "Low Cost" terminal will EDI get the routes it deserves by eJ?

Probably not rumours come and go with easyJet nothing ever seems to materialise, it seems there could be a greater chance of Ryanair moving in at some point in the future, and an increased presence from Jet2 with Flyglobespan continuing their success presumably, so we don't really need easyJet anymore.;)

[Mooncrest]

I've just come back from a week's OJT at Edinburgh. I already knew it was a fairly big and busy place but I had to stifle a snigger when our instructor mused that it was about the same size as Leeds Bradford, my home turf. Not quite. About three times the size and three times as busy. And with plenty of space to expand as well. I noticed Edinburgh seems to do pretty well for schedules and locos but like LBA is a little lacking in IT activity.
I guess most of that traffic uses Glasgow. Nevertheless I was thoroughly impressed and nearly wept when I arrived back at Leeds and made instant comparisons.

Anyway, well done Edinburgh and keep on expanding. :ok:

[Jordan D]

Well done Ed, here's to bigger expansion ... maybe one day Ryanair will also do Lon-EDI flights for even cheaper fares for us students!

Jordan