Edinburgh Airport has been sold to Global Infrastructure Partnership (GIP) , the owner of Gatwick and London City airports for over £800m. Edinburgh Airport was put on the market by its owner BAA last October, after the Competition Commission ruled that it had to sell either Edinburgh or Glasgow.

The winning price, which is understood to be close to £800m, is considerably more than had been expected.

Three years ago, Spanish-owned BAA sold Gatwick Airport to GIP, under the same regulatory requirement to break up assets that had previously been state-owned.

It is thought that GIP intends to improve the speed at which passengers move through the airport at check-in, security and baggage handling, and to link the Scottish capital with new routes.

Simon Calder, travel editor at The Independent, said: “What they have done is remarkable things.

“They’ve greatly improved the passenger experience so that people are tending to choose the airport ahead of others and secondly they are attracting airlines.”

He added: “It’s now going to get very, very interesting and the beneficiaries will be the Scottish travelling public.”

Its investment pattern is to sell the asset on after about seven years.

The Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association welcomed the news and said that GIP had improved the experience for passengers at Gatwick since it took over the airport three years ago and expected the same at Edinburgh.