A promised cut in Air Passenger Duty in Scotland needs to be delivered to avoid a stall in aviation growth amid Brexit uncertainty.
The call came from the boss of Edinburgh airport despite strong growth being achieved last month.
September numbers rose by 5.8% year-on-year to hit a record of more than 1.3 million passengers.
New routes continuing to perform well and airlines flying bigger and fuller aircraft helped push up throughput at Scotland’s busiest airport.
Last month’s performance follows another record month in August when 1.4 million passengers passed through the airport terminal, an increase of 4.9% on the same month last year.
The busiest month on record was in July 2018 when the 1.5 million passenger barrier was broken for the first time by a Scottish airport.
But airport chief executive Gordon Dewar said: “While this growth is helpful, we can’t escape the fact that Scotland is well below European average growth.
“We’re also seeing airlines announcing reductions and cuts to services due to us having the highest aviation tax in the world, something which is holding back the industry’s true potential.
“With the further challenge of an uncertain Brexit looming, the promised APD reduction needs to be delivered to avoid a stall in aviation and tourism growth.”
The domestic sector in September was ahead of last year with 2% growth in September to 463,433 travellers, partly due to with Flybe and Loganair flying fuller aircraft.
The international market recorded 7.8% growth to 902,593 due to 21 new routes launched since last September.
“It’s another impressive month for all of us at Edinburgh airport and I must commend everyone who works at the airport for playing their part in our busiest ever summer as we welcomed 4.5 million people over the past three months,” said Dewar.
“We have a fantastic range of destinations and airlines for passengers looking for that beach holiday or city break and we’re always looking to add more, such as this month’s fantastic addition in Dubai with Emirates.”