KLM ups flights between Scotland and Amsterdam as demand soars

KLM, which operates Scotland's most frequent international routes, is to add new flights to meet rising demand.

The Dutch airline will increase capacity on its links between Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and its Amsterdam hub by nearly 20 per cent with an additional daily return service from each of the airports.

The expansion from next April will see KLM running six daily flights from Edinburgh - its highest ever - and five each from Glasgow and Aberdeen.

Analysts predicted the airline would also soon add Inverness to its network.

Some 60 per cent of KLM's Scottish passengers connect with European and long-haul flights at Amsterdam. KLM is the only airline on the route from Glasgow and Amsterdam, and competes with EasyJet from Edinburgh.

The KLM move is likely to intensify competition with rivals British Airways and bmi, which feed Scottish passengers into its global networks and those of its partners at Heathrow.

Despite being the world's busiest international airport, airlines at the London hub are expected to come under increasing pressure because the UK coalition government has vetoed plans for a third runway, designed to ease congestion and enable further growth.

By contrast, KLM has highlighted the lack of restrictions on future expansion at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, which already has six main runways compared to Heathrow's two.

Henri Hourcade, Air France KLM's UK and Ireland general manager, said demand was bouncing back following last year's downturn.

He told Scotland on Sunday: "After the 2009-10 crisis period, we are in recovery and business is at near pre-crisis levels."

He said the most popular onward destinations from Scotland included Hong Kong, Johannesburg, New York, Boston and Dubai.

Hourcade said of the squeeze on Heathrow: "We will be there to answer the needs of Scotland.

"If there is less spare capacity at Heathrow, the more we will offer through our hubs in Amsterdam and Paris, which are not constrained and can continue to grow for the next 50 years."

Laurie Price, director of aviation strategy at consultants Mott MacDonald, said: "This confirms that with no further development at Heathrow, Scottish traffic will increasingly be looking to connect over Amsterdam and other European points for long-haul connections.

"This will undoubtedly help KLM and Schiphol at the expense of BA and Heathrow, building on some 1.8 million passengers from UK regional airports that are already routing via Amsterdam. Amsterdam is already connected to 22 UK regional airports compared with only six UK regional airports connected to Heathrow. A new regular KLM service to Inverness is in prospect.

Edinburgh Airport said the expansion built on Schiphol's position as its number one international link

A spokesman said: "Amsterdam is Edinburgh airport's most popular destination, used by nearly half a million passengers this year alone.

"We've seen the demand for the route grow, and welcome KLM's addition of another flight to increase frequency to six per day. This not only gives Edinburgh better links to the continent but increases access to destinations across the world. We're committed to working with airlines to do exactly that."