Edinburgh’s US & Canada Seats Pass 1 Million For The 1st Time

Edinburgh Airport has seen phenomenal growth to/from the US and Canada recently. In 2025, it will pass one million round-trip seats for sale for the first time.

Capacity—what carriers offer—has increased by a quarter in a year. Seven airlines will operate 15 transatlantic routes with up to 16 daily takeoffs in August.

Edinburgh's record capacity

Below is a figure showing the Scottish capital's annual round-trip seats. When all airlines are combined, they plan nearly 1,060,000, up by 26% year-on-year and by 117% compared to before the pandemic in 2019.

While questions must be asked about sustainability and the degree to which it may rise further, it is nonetheless jaw-dropping.

The figure includes Air Canada’s latest route: Montreal. The flag carrier announced the brand-new link on March 26.

Of course, it will operate summer seasonally, with three weekly Boeing 737 MAX 8 flights from June 27 (Scotland departure). Edinburgh has not had Montreal flights before.

Edinburgh's growth is partly at the expense of Glasgow, as many airlines moved over or consolidated in the Scottish capital. In 2004, when Glasgow was Scotland’s main transatlantic airport (it replaced Prestwick), it had 86% of Scotland's US/Canada capacity.

By 2019, the last year before the world temporarily changed due to COVID, it fell to 42%. In 2025, it has just 9%.

Scotland’s capital is among the fastest-growing cities in the UK, has excellent overseas awareness, and is a gateway to the country.

It generally has a much stronger inbound market than Glasgow. While attending Routes events worldwide, I always see Edinburgh and brand Scotland.

When both cities are combined, they will have more US/Canada capacity in 2025 than in any other year. More than 1,160,000 seats are available, up 8% compared to the prior high in 2017.

Enormous seasonality

For obvious reasons, it is a massive summer seasonal market. August has more Edinburgh seats (187,000) than any other month. This one month has considerably more capacity than January, February, March, April, November, and December combined.

It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, Edinburgh's route development team can do to help reduce seasonality.

Seven airlines and 15 routes: 2025

Edinburgh's operation is as follows. It includes the return of American, which last served the airport between 2015 and 2019. While it previously deployed the 757-200ER (a type that has been withdrawn from its fleet), it will fly widebodies for the first time.

Elsewhere, JetBlue will inaugurate its second Edinburgh route (Boston), while Air Canada's new offering (Montreal) is also available.

Various operators have increased frequencies on existing routes compared to last year. For example, WestJet's Toronto flights have risen from daily to a high of 11 weekly, part of a broader expansion of its long-haul narrowbody service.

Delta has grown Atlanta frequencies to a high of 10 weekly, and United has a double daily summer Newark operation for a longer period than last year.