The momentum of Edinburgh Airport seems difficult to overstate.

This impetus has been crystal clear through the first half of this year and indeed over a long period before that - stalled only temporarily by the coronavirus pandemic.

And the momentum was palpable when I interviewed the airport’s chief executive, Gordon Dewar, recently.

The last few months have seen a continuation of major wins for Edinburgh Airport. In March, it was announced that a new Air Canada route to Montreal would start this summer, and the airport has enjoyed various other major successes in building further its direct flights to North America.

It was not that long ago that Glasgow Airport was the place to go for scheduled direct flights to the US and Canada, with flag carriers.

In late April, when I interviewed Kam Jandu, the new chief executive of Glasgow Airport owner AGS Airports, he noted that he knew Mr Dewar.

This was in the context of a question about Mr Dewar’s emphasis of his view that Edinburgh Airport competes head on with Glasgow Airport. Mr Dewar flagged this belief during a previous interview in February.

The Edinburgh Airport chief said then: “Obviously Glasgow is the closest of our competition. We will be out there telling people that if Scotland is on your radar Edinburgh is the place to be.”

He added: “We have got to show why we are better than Vienna, or we are better than Barcelona or we are better than Dublin. Glasgow is part of that. It is largely about the fundamentals of the market and why they (the airlines) will be successful here.”

Mr Jandu, when I spoke with him, highlighted his plans to build........

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