Digital Quarter plan for former airport runway

Thousands of jobs could be created by the development of a new ‘Digital Quarter’ at a decommissioned runway site near Edinburgh Airport, a report has revealed.

Airport news from Airport Taxis Edinburgh

Freephone 0800-6190575 for your taxi from Edinburgh Airport .New analysis on the potential economic impact of proposals by Crosswind Developments to transform the 65-acre brownfield site shows over 6,000 jobs – including 4,800 high-value technology jobs- could be provided by the development, supporting £438m of gross valued added (GVA) – a measure of economic output – in Scotland.

Thousands of jobs and affordable housing

As well as the digital quarter, as part of 700,000 square feet of office space, the development on the Edinburgh Elements site will include retails units, hotels and 2,400 homes – 25 per cent of which will be affordable housing.

Approximately 14 acres of the site will be a green space which will include a new informal park complete with a ‘rain garden’ water feature around the Gogar Burn, with a green corridor. Car use will be minimised by focusing on the provision of cycling and walking.

Crosswinds Development is an independent subsidiary of Edinburgh airport’s owners Global Infrastructure Partners. The land is owned by Crosswind.

BiGGAR Economics’ report examined the potential benefit to Scotland in attracting technology jobs while giving home grown companies greater opportunities for collaboration.

Edinburgh Airport taxis to get better access

Edinburgh Airport plans £20m investment in transport improvements

More than £20m is being invested to improve transport access as part of ongoing development works at Edinburgh Airport.

Airport news from Airport taxis Edinburgh – book now on 0800-6190575

Edinburgh is the sixth busiest airport in the UK, with over 14.3 million passengers a year, and the first phase of the project will deliver a new east terminus next summer, which will provide:

Covered walkways for passengers;
A new passenger bridge;
A new PRM waiting area;
A new base for the airport’s licenced taxi operation;
A self-service kiosk for booking private taxis.

The second phase of the project will deliver a new access road to further ease congestion on Eastfield Road and will see the entire taxi drop-off facility move to the new facility.

As well as making it easier for licensed taxis to drop off and pick up passengers, this multi-million pound project will also see the construction of a new access road, helping to ease the congestion we currently see on Eastfield Road at peak times.

Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: “As an airport, we provide quick and easy travel to destinations all over the world. That trip starts and ends here, so making it easier for people to get to and from the airport is important to us.

“By investing in our infrastructure, we’ll be able to deliver better access for public transport and increase those travel options for passengers, directly improving their journey.”

Edinburgh Airport has the busiest ever month for a Scottish airport

Edinburgh Airport

recorded the busiest ever month for a Scottish airport for the second time as a total of 1,508,586 passengers passed through it in July 2019.

Airport news from Airport taxis Edinburgh – phone 0800-6190575 for bookings .

The figures are up 0.4% on the same month last year, but growth is down from 6.3% in July 2018.

	Jul	% vs Last Year
Domestic	475,757	-4.7%
International	1,032,829	+3.0%
Total	1,508,586	+0.4%
MAT Total	14,763,216	+6.5%

Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport said:“It’s a bittersweet month for us – we’ve just recorded the busiest ever month for a Scottish airport for the second time, but it comes as we see a marked slowdown in growth.

“The fall in domestic travel has clearly had an impact and although there is growth internationally we cannot ignore the loss of routes over the past year, such as Norwegian pulling their transatlantic services.

“We previously warned that failure to cut the highest aviation tax in the world have an adverse effect on growth and this appears to be coming to fruition. Our industry hears the government’s concerns around the climate but the positive steps taken towards making aviation more sustainable have not been considered.

“Like all businesses, we are looking at how we make our operations more sustainable and how we can influence the wider industry to continue on that positive path. The airport campus employs around 7,000 people and as a business overall we support 23,000 jobs across Scotland – we have to find a way that delivers sustainable growth to ensure continued success for our economy.”