Last year I made a series of presentations about market share across Scotland to the ten largest inbound tourist markets as identified by Visit Scotland. Now that 2024 has concluded and we have a years worth of data I thought it would be a good idea to revisit each of these markets in a bit more detail.
A disclaimer is needed here, I have done this from an airport neutral point of view, and it is very important to remember that just because a load factor is high, that does not necessarily mean that yields are high.
This particular post is focusing specifically on the Scotland-France market, which is the third largest inbound tourism market for Scotland.
For those unfamiliar with the route networks and airlines below is a summary of the routes and airlines that operated flights in 2024;
- Edinburgh to Beauvais with Ryanair
- Edinburgh to Bergerac with Ryanair
- Edinburgh to Beziers with Ryanair
- Edinburgh to Biarritz with Ryanair
- Edinburgh to Bordeaux with easyJet
- Edinburgh to Chambery with Jet2 and TUI
- Edinburgh to Grenoble with easyJet
- Edinburgh to Lyon with easyJet
- Edinburgh to Marseille with Ryanair
- Edinburgh to Nantes with Ryanair
- Edinburgh to Nice with easyJet
- Edinburgh to Paris Charles de Gaulle with Air France and easyJet
- Edinburgh to Paris Orly with Transavia
- Edinburgh to Poitiers with Ryanair
- Edinburgh to Toulouse with Ryanair
- Glasgow to Bordeaux with easyJet
- Glasgow to Chambery
- Glasgow to Paris Charles de Gaulle with easyJet
The most immediate trend with this list is the prominence of Ryanair into regional airports across France. If Ryanair did not operate these routes then there is no obvious replacement for destinations such ass Beziers and Poitiers, however, as I will explain later in this post, there is one destination where another airline has stepped in to cover for Ryanair ending service.
If you would like to skip to a specific section of this post then you can use the contents table below to skip to wherever in the post you like;
- Passenger Numbers Per Month
- Passenger Numbers Per Year
- Market Share Per Airport
- Route Specific Information
- Previously Served Destinations
Passenger Numbers Per Month
For me, France provides a very interesting contrast between Edinburgh and Glasgow in the fact passenger numbers in Glasgow remain relatively consistent throughout the year, yet passenger numbers vary significantly in Edinburgh – just look at the drop from October into November!
A disclaimer for the passenger figures between Scotland and France for February. As Scotland were playing France in a Six Nations match in Edinburgh, a number of extra flights were added into Edinburgh Airport (the closest to Murrayfield Stadium) thus boosting Edinburgh’s passenger numbers in the month. If the match had been played in Paris then fans departing Scotland would have spread out across Edinburgh and Glasgow, this is far less likely when the match was in Edinburgh.
Doing a comparison from 2019 to 2024, passenger numbers between Scotland and France were operating at 120.60% of 2019 levels, with no new airlines entering the market, but one route being dropped from the network and three added throughout the year.
Passenger Numbers Per Year
As previously pointed out passenger numbers between Scotland and France were operating at 120.60% of 2019 levels, however, this has not been spread equally across each airport in Scotland, rather, flights have consolidated in Edinburgh and Glasgow, with Aberdeen (and also Prestwick) losing all flights to France.
The recovery rate for each Scottish Airport that had service in 2019 can be seen below;
- Aberdeen = Suspended
- Edinburgh = 134.72%
- Glasgow = 130.79%
As I will explain further in this post, there is slightly more behind the scenes as to why Aberdeen has lost flights to Paris, and a comment from AGS Airports on the current status of the route – or rather – what they said was their aim.
Market Share Per Airport
Market share from Scotland to France had remained relatively stable all things considered, with the growth in market share in Edinburgh being accounted for by the loss of service at Aberdeen rather than a decline in Glasgow, which increased its market share in 2024, unlike Edinburgh, however, this change was rather small all things considered and can be attributed to the loss of flights at Prestwick Airport more than anything else.
Based on publicly available information for 2025, I would not rule out another decrease in market share at Edinburgh Airport compared to growth in Glasgow as a result of changes to airlines and frequencies, primarily as a result of Ryanair, at Edinburgh Airport.
Route Specific Information
All the information in this section is focusing on routes that are currently operating from at least one Scottish Airport as of the time of writing.
Beauvais
Paris Beauvais was introduced by Ryanair in Winter 2021, as part of the airlines recovery from the pandemic, operating on a year round basis, the route has grown year-on-year since launched, however, as the information below shows it appears there are signs of a slowdown in this market.
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
Ryanair FR
- Movements will decrease from 342 to 240 – equivalent to a 30% decrease
- This means decreasing from 171 to 120 round trips
- Seats available will decrease from 66,974 to 47,280 – equivalent to a decrease of 29%
Bergerac
Bergerac is another route that has benefited from a different carrier taking over operations after the pandemic. Until 2019 the route operated on a limited schedule, however, Ryanair resumed operations in 2024, operating the route 2x per week with Boeing 737 aircraft, significantly boosting the number of seats available.
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
Ryanair FR
- Movements will remain the same at 120, the same as Summer 2024
- This means 60 round trips will operate
- Seats available will remain the same at 23,080
Beziers
Although services to Beziers have operated every year since 2015, passenger numbers have almost halves since the pre-pandemic era. Passenger growth has halted, and declined since launching in 2022 as a result of Ryanair’s decision to change the period of operations on the route. In 2022 flights operated between the start of April and the end of October, however, in 2023-2025 flights have only operated from June.
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
Ryanair FR
- Movements will increase from 34 to 70 – equivalent to an increase of 106%
- This means increasing from 17 to 35 round trips
- Seats available will increase from 6,698 to 13,790 – equivalent to an increase of 106%
Ryanair UK
- Movements will decrease from 36 to 0 – equivalent to a decrease of 100%
- This means decreasing from 18 to 0 round trips
- Seats available will decrease from 6,804 to 0 – equivalent to a decrease of 100%
Biarritz
Biarritz was a new route announced by Ryanair from Edinburgh Airport for Summer 2024, with flights operating twice per week during the summer, with a very small number of charter and private flights in 2022 and 2023.
Flights will continue to operate twice weekly in 2025, unlike Beziers, flights will continue to operate all summer, with no changes to start dates.
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
Ryanair FR
- This means 60 round trips will operate
- Movements will remain the same at 120, the same as Summer 2024
- Seats available will decrease slightly from 22,840 to 22,680 – equivalent to a decrease of 1%
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is the first destination in France to have service from more than one airport, with both Edinburgh and Glasgow both seeing service.
Both airports receive summer seasonal flights, however, until the end of 2024 flights from Edinburgh were operating all summer, with flights from Glasgow only operating for 10 weeks between June and August, however, looking ahead to Summer 2025, passenger numbers at Edinburgh Airport are expected to fall significantly as a result of Ryanair ending service, however, this will be explained in a moment.
Passenger numbers are currently operating at 102.27% of 2019 levels, with the breakdown level for each airport below;
- Edinburgh = 107.67%
- Glasgow = 86.01%
In terms of market share between 2019 and 2024, Edinburgh increased its market share from 75.09% to 79.06%, compared to a reduction from 24.91% to 20.94% at Glasgow, however, expect Glasgow to become the larger of the two airport for 2025 based on current schedules.
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
easyJet Europe
- Movements will increase from 0 to 40 – a new service for Summer 2025
- This means 20 round trips will operate
- Seats available will increase from 0 to 7,440
Ryanair FR
- Movements will decrease from 198 to 0 – equivalent to a 100% decrease
- This means reducing from 149 to 0 round trips
- Seats available will decrease from 38,046 to 0 – equivalent to a 100% decrease
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Glasgow Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
easyJet Europe
- Movements will remain at 20 – the same as Summer 2024
- This means 10 round trips will operate
- Seats available will remain at from 3,720
easyJet UK
- Movements will remain at 40 – the same as Summer 2024
- This means 20 round trips will operate
- Seats available will remain at 6,240
Overall, Glasgow to Bordeaux will remain at 60 movements with 9,960 seats operating.
Chambery
Chambery is a winter seasonal destination from both Edinburgh and Glasgow, with Jet2 and TUI operating from Edinburgh, with TUI also operating flights from Glasgow.
When compared to 2019, passenger numbers in 2024 were operating at 107.75% of 2019 levels, with the recovery airport for each below;
- Edinburgh = 132.34%
- Glasgow = 79.15%
In terms of market share, Edinburgh Airport has increased its market share from 53.28% in 2019 to 65.44% in 2024. Compare this to Glasgow Airport where market share has reduced from 46.72% to 34.56%.
Looking ahead to Winter 2025, TUI has removed one flight in December from Edinburgh and has added 1 flight from Glasgow at its expense.
Grenoble
Grenoble is the first of 4 airports that has seen consolidation at Edinburgh Airport, with services from Glasgow to Grenoble which were operated by Jet2 becoming a victim of the pandemic.
When comparing 2024 passenger numbers to 2019, we can see that passenger numbers are currently at 95.3% of 2019 levels, with market share at Edinburgh increasing from 54.25% to 100%.
Looking ahead to Winter 2025 we are still awaiting easyJet to confirm their timetable, and as of the time of writing, no airline has announced flights from Glasgow.
easyJet operates a very limited number of flights in April 2025, and when we look at the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport it reveals the following in terms of seats and movements;
- Movements will increase from 8 to 14 – equivalent to an increase of 75%
- This means increasing from 4 to 7 round trips
- Seats available will increase from 1,488 to 2,604 – equivalent to an increase of 75%
Lyon
Lyon is another route that has only seen service from Edinburgh Airport, with easyJet being the sole operator of the route. From a passenger numbers perspective the route has significantly recovered from the pandemic, with passenger numbers currently operating at 149.42% of 2019 levels, with a significant year-on-year increase since 2022.
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
- Seats available will remain at 22,320 – the same as Summer 2024
- This means 60 round trips will operate
- Movements will remain at 120 – the same as Summer 2024
Marseille
Marseille has had a particularly rough time from Scotland since the pandemic, especially from the West Coast. To try and make sense of the airlines that have operate Marseille flights there is a breakdown below;
- 2015-2019: Ryanair from Edinburgh and easyJet from Glasgow
- 2020-2021: Ryanair from Edinburgh
- 2022: Ryanair from Edinburgh and easyJet from Glasgow
- 2023: Ryanair from Edinburgh and Prestwick
- 2024: Ryanair from Edinburgh and easyJet from Glasgow
- 2025: Ryanair from Edinburgh
As seen above, Ryanair from Edinburgh has been the only consistent operator, with easyJet chopping and changing Glasgow flights since 2022, with the airline opting to operate their aircraft elsewhere in 2023 and 2025.
In terms of Scotland wide passenger numbers in 2024, they were sitting at 111.69% of 2019 levels, with the recovery rate for both airports below;
- Edinburgh: 115.83%
- Glasgow: 86.16%
As already mentioned, easyJet will not operate it’s Marseille route from Glasgow in Summer 2025, with no other airline stepping in to offer a replacement.
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
Ryanair FR
- Movements will decrease from 236 to 104 – equivalent to a decrease of 56%
- This means reducing from 118 to 52 round trips
- Seats available will also decrease from 45,948 to 19,656 – equivalent to a decrease of 57%
Ryanair UK
- Movements will increase from 0 to 60 – a “new” service for Summer 2025
- This means increasing from 0 to 30 round trips
- Seats available will increase from 0 to 11,340
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Glasgow Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
- Movements will decrease from 40 to 0 – equivalent to a decrease of 100%
- This means reducing from 20 to 0 round trips
- Seats available will decrease from 6,240 to 0 – equivalent to a decrease of 10%
Nantes
Nantes is in the really unfortunate position of holding not one, but two awards. It is the slowest route still operating in terms of recovery, and of all the currently operating routes it holds the title for the biggest decrease since the end of the pandemic.
Flights between Edinburgh and Nantes are operated by Ryanair, with the airline being the only operator on the route. From a passenger numbers perspective, figures for 2024 show the route is only operating at 52.62% of 2019 levels, and for some added context, they are also only at 66.54% of 2022 levels.
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
Ryanair FR
- Movements will decrease from 136 to 120 – equivalent to a decrease of 12%
- This means reducing from 68 to 60 round trips
- Seats available will also decrease from 26,664 to 23,640 – equivalent to a decrease of 11%
Ryanair UK
- Movements will increase from 0 to 26 – a “new” service for Summer 2025
- This means increasing from 0 to 13 round trips
- Seats available will increase from 0 to 4,914
Nice
Another exclusive route from Edinburgh Airport, with flights being operated by easyJet who are the sole operator on this route.
Passenger numbers have increased year-on-year since the pandemic, and in 2024 they were sitting at 154.59% on 2019 levels, however, it does appear that for Summer 2025, capacity has plateaued as I will outline below.
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
- Movements will remain at 420 – the same as Summer 2024
- This means 210 round trips will operate
- Seats available will remain at 78,120, the same as Summer 2024
Paris
I feel it is worthwhile just providing a quick overview of the Paris market as a whole, to make it easier to do a quick overview of how flights to the city are doing, with specific information for both airports available in more detail in the next sections.
Overall, the Scotland-Paris market is operating at 110.20% of 2019 levels, especially impressive when you consider that Aberdeen is no longer host to it’s Air France route to Paris Charles de Gaulle, the individual recovery rate for each Scottish Airport is below;
- Aberdeen – “Suspended”
- Edinburgh – 124.82%
- Glasgow – 143.98%
A quick disclaimer, Beauvais has not been included in this section as “Paris” is simply a marketing tool used by Ryanair, the airport is 80km away from Paris.
Paris Charles de Gaulle
Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) has seen a strong year-on-year growth in passenger numbers since the pandemic, and is the only Paris route to see service by two airlines.
Passenger numbers between Scotland and Paris CDG are currently operating at 110.1% of 2019 levels, with the number of airports seeing service being reduced by 1 thanks to Air France no longer serving Aberdeen. The individual recovery rate for each airport can be found below’;
- Aberdeen – Suspended
- Edinburgh – 125.72%
- Glasgow – 143.98%
Looking further back to 2016-2017 Air France served all thee airports in Scotland, with easyJet also serving Edinburgh and Glasgow, however, Air France has since removed services to Aberdeen and Glasgow while consolidating at Edinburgh.
No official reason was provided as to why Aberdeen did not return after the pandemic (one can speculate), however, Glasgow flights stopped in 2017 as the airline blamed poor load factors on the route (Source: Business Traveller: Glasgow loses two airlines).
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
Air France
- Movements will increase from 1,236 to 1,274 – equating to an increase of 3%
- This means increasing from 618 to 637 round trips
- Seats available will increase from 121,884 to 217,732 – equating to an increase of 79% – Air France has upgraded a lot of its flights this summer from Embraer 190 to Airbus A220 aircraft with more seats.
easyJet Europe
- Movements will decrease from 210 to 164 – equating to a decrease of 22%
- This means decreasing from 105 to 82 round trips
- Seats Available will decrease from 38,100 to 30,504 – equating to a decrease of 20%
easyJet UK
- Movements will decrease from 778 to 750 – equating to a decrease of 4%
- This means decreasing from 389 to 375 round trips
- Seats Available will decrease from 144,708 to 139,500 – equating to a decrease of 4%
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Glasgow Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
easyJet Europe
- Movements will increase from 118 to 288 – equating to an increase of 144%
- This means increasing from 59 to 144 round trips
- Seats available will increase from 20,148 to 51,768 – equating to an increase of 157%
easyJet UK
- Movements will decrease from 680 to 644 – equating to a decrease of 5%
- This means decreasing from 340 to 322 round trips
- Seats available will decrease from 114,300 to 110,454 – equating to a decrease of 3%
Paris Orly
Sometimes a graph can do far more than words ever could, and that is especially the case here with Paris Orly. Since launching flights in April 2016 Transavia France has consistently recorded decreases in the number of passengers carried between Edinburgh and Paris. In the 2016-2019 period passenger numbers on the route fell by 60%, with the airline adjusting its schedules as it sees fit based on yields and demand.
Fast forward to 2024 and the route is operating at 113.1% of 2019 levels, but it is telling that passenger numbers have remained flat year-on-year since 2022.
Glasgow Airport had a very limited (and very unsuccessful) run of flights to Paris Orly with Transavia and Vueling both operating flights – Transavia lasted 3 months and Vueling lasted a year!
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
- Movements will increase from 230 to 282 – equivalent to an increase of 23%
- This means increasing from 115 to 141 round trips
- Seats available will also increase from 43,470 to 53,118 – equivalent to an increase of 23%
It will always remain surprising to me that despite Paris as a city doing very well with easyJet on point-to-point traffic from a passenger numbers perspective and the strong inbound reputation of Edinburgh that Paris Orly has performed as poorly as it has, with Transavia now only operating flights during the summer months, and neither airline being able to make their Glasgow route work.
Poitiers
Flights between Edinburgh and Poitiers are currently operated by Ryanair from Edinburgh Airport, however, flights have seen a change in operating periods since the pandemic.
Flights in 2023 operated between April and October, however, looking ahead to this summer, flights will only operate between the start of June and the end of September, with Ryanair using the aircraft on other routes during the summer.
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
Ryanair
- Movements will reduce from 86 to 36 – equating to a decrease of 58%.
- This means reducing from 43 to 18 round trips
- Seats available will decrease from 16,318 to 6,804
Ryanair UK
- Movements will increase from 0 to 36 – a new service for Summer 2025.
- This means increasing from 0 to 18 round trips
- Seats available will increase from 0 to 6,426.
Overall
- Movements will reduce from 86 to 70 – equating to a reduction of 18.6%
- This means reducing from 43 to 35 round trips
- Seats available will also reduce from 16,318 to 13,230 – equating to a reduction of 18.92%
Toulouse
Toulouse is currently only served by Ryanair from Edinburgh Airport with flights operating during the summer months, however, 2025 will see a new airline and Scottish Airport gain service. Starting in December 2025 TUI will operate a weekly flight to Toulouse from Glasgow Airport aimed at opening the Andorran Ski resorts to the Scottish market.
Focusing specifically on Ryanair, as of the end of 2024 passenger numbers were operating at 91.34% of 2019 levels, however, it should be noted that just the year before services were operating at 116% of 2019 levels, however, Ryanair has since reduced service from Edinburgh.
Looking ahead to Summer 2025, the recently published “Start of Season Report” for Edinburgh Airport shows the following in terms of movements and seats;
- Movements will increase from 162 to 240 equating to an increase of 48%
- This means increasing from 81 to 120 round trips
- Seats available will increase from 31,098 to 45,840 equating to an increase of 47%
Previously Served Destinations
All the information in this section is focusing on routes that are no longer operating from any Scottish Airport as of the time of writing but have been served since 2015.
Carcassonne
Flights from both Edinburgh and Glasgow were both operated by Ryanair, with services from Glasgow operating first, before Edinburgh commenced operations and eventually became the sole airport with service to Carcassonne.
Flights from Glasgow were cancelled after Ryanair closed their Glasgow base in October 2018, while Edinburgh flights lasted until 2023 – no official reason was provided by the airline as to why flights were cancelled apart from “due to a re-evaluation of out route network”, Ryanair is known for being ruthless in cancelling destinations that do not make money.
As of the time of writing no airline has announced plans to recommence the route from any airport in Scotland.
Clermont Ferrand
Clermont Ferrand appears to have operated from Edinburgh on a one-off season in 2017, however, I must come clean when I say that I have no idea why these flights operated, or who operated them and with which aircraft type they were operated by.
Nimes
Ryanair announced they would start flying from Edinburgh to Nimes in Summer 2022, however, flights only operated for two seasons before being dropped by the airline in at the end of 2023.
Ryanair provided the reason for the route ending as “a re-evaluation of our operations”, however, it should be noted that Ryanair appears to have been unable to base a 12th aircraft into Edinburgh for Summer 2024 and has likely had to fly its aircraft only to the most profitable destinations across Europe and it is likely that Nimes was sacrificed to support services elsewhere.
If Ryanair was to base a 12th aircraft into Edinburgh, or indeed free up capacity by basing aircraft in Glasgow it would be interesting to see if this route returns.
About The Author
George Nugent is an independent travel writer focused on honest reviews of rail, air, and coach journeys in the UK, Europe, and USA. Passionate about statistics and clear reporting, George shares insights to help travellers make informed choices.
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