IT WAS described by the UK Aviation Minister as a vote of confidence in Scotland from China but it has been claimed the latest long-haul flights deal landed by Edinburgh Airport will lead to more distant destinations across the globe.
Experts said securing the first flights from Edinburgh to Beijing without having to fly to London could lead to more long-haul routes for Scottish airports.
With Glasgow Airport still reeling after the news Ryanair routes operating from Glasgow are to be reduced from 23 to three, with five being transferred to Edinburgh, the China deal announced by executives at the Scottish capital's airport last week could have a knock-on effect.
Read more: Fresh fears over airport jobs and flights from Scotland after Ryanair Glasgow base closure
While Glasgow had an initial boost with a new Loganair route to Derry, both it and the Scottish capital have further expansion ambitions.
Laurie Price, above, a former senior airline manager, aviation economist and Parliamentary aviation adviser, said the two airports could benefit after their split from BAA.
He said Beijing link is "an interesting development but one that recognises that the lowland air transport market has gradually been moving east to Edinburgh ever since the establishment of the Scottish capital post devolution".
Read more: Fresh fears over airport jobs and flights from Scotland after Ryanair Glasgow base closure
He said: "So from being broadly equal 20 or so years ago, with Glasgow often ahead, albeit both were owned and operated by BAA, that position has now changed as market dynamics, the dominance of the low cost carriers in Scotland, has had a real impact.
"But as this development confirms, having two major airports only 54 miles apart serving a lowland population of circa four million people, there will always be a dominant one in the end.
"That is increasingly Edinburgh.
"The Scottish lowland market is too small and the market too leisure focussed to allow it to sustain a network of high frequency global long-haul services.
"The counter to this is the increasing use of the highly economic long haul variants of the A321 and 737 900 next generation (aircraft), and the options they bring for year round higher frequency and extended networks to points in the USA and Canada,when Scotland is an hour plus nearer to North America than the rest of the UK, particularly London."
Read more: Fresh fears over airport jobs and flights from Scotland after Ryanair Glasgow base closure
Glasgow enjoyed another record year in 2017 as its annual passenger numbers rose by nearly six per cent to more than 9.9 million on the back of a jump in international traffic, and, also a record, Edinburgh's international traffic drove an 8.6 per cent rise in overall passenger numbers in 2017, to 13.43 million, and in 2016 it consulted on creating a larger second runway to bring the facility into greater use.
Edinburgh Airport was put on the market by its owner BAA in 2011 when the Competition Commission ruled that it had to sell either Edinburgh or Glasgow.
Gordon Dewar, above, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport, told The Herald: "When Global Investment Partners bought Edinburgh Airport in 2012, it was an easy decision to return because they realised the potential the airport had, and gave us the autonomy to set our own goals and ambitions.
"Straight away one of those goals was a route to China because I knew how much the airport, the city and the country stood to gain.
"What we now have is a model that has reaped rewards.
"We know what we can achieve when we work collaboratively so why shouldn’t we look to do the same again?
"We must take heart from this success and strive to go further and take Scotland to the world.
"China’s a huge step forward for us but the team at Edinburgh Airport always wants more."
Read more: Fresh fears over airport jobs and flights from Scotland after Ryanair Glasgow base closure
Glasgow was sold by owners Heathrow Airport Holdings, which was previously known as BAA, in a £1bn deal also including Aberdeen and Southampton in 2014, with the three airports owned by the AGS Airports consortium formed by Spanish firm Ferrovial and Australia-based Macquarie.
A spokesman for Glasgow Airport said that the Ryanair move was as a result of the airline’s review of its single aircraft bases, however, he said the delay in Holyrood's plan to introduce its proposed 50 per cent cut in Air Departure Tax has had an impact.
He said: “Despite clear and repeated warnings from both airports and airlines about the potential impact of this policy not being implemented, we are now faced with a stark scenario that includes the loss of 20 services and a significant number of jobs."
The Scottish Government said it "continues to be committed to reducing by the end of this Parliament and we want to get on and deliver this".
Anna Leask, Professor of Tourism Management at Edinburgh Napier University, said that the China deal is "is hugely important because it is again the culmination of several years of work to being both leisure and business visitors into Edinburgh first of all but then much more widely across the destination of Scotland".
UK Government Aviation Minister Baroness Sugg said: "As a major market for Scotland’s world class produce this is also a vote of confidence in the strong economic links between the UK and China, bringing our ambitious businesses and exporters even closer to their customers.”
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