News of the departure of Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar came as such a surprise last week, writes Business Editor Ian McConnell.

It was probably the sheer momentum of Edinburgh Airport and Gordon Dewar’s clear enthusiasm for building on this and confidence about the future that meant news last week of his departure came as such a surprise.

I interviewed Mr Dewar twice last year, and he seemed on both occasions to be buoyed by the airport’s growth and in no doubt that further new flight wins would be landed.

And there is certainly no reason to believe that this is not still the case.

News of Mr Dewar’s departure came hard on the heels of some stellar passenger numbers for 2025 being reported by Edinburgh Airport in late January.

And he has propelled passenger numbers higher at Edinburgh Airport since he returned to take the top job in 2012. Obviously, the coronavirus pandemic period was the exception to this but the airport rebuilt connectivity fast as Scotland emerged from that grim time.

Mr Dewar has certainly for most of the time since 2012 enjoyed a much greater tailwind than his counterparts at Glasgow Airport.

That said, Kam Jandu, who became chief executive of Glasgow Airport owner AGS Airports last January following the takeover by the Canadian Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s AviAlliance platform of AGS from Ferrovial and Macquarie, has in recent months had a flurry of new flight wins to announce himself.

So too has Mr Dewar as Edinburgh Airport has also continued to prosper.

This should surely reinforce belief that there is plenty of room for growth at Scotland’s biggest two passenger airports. There are various reasons why this should be so, including the potential to offer direct flights to numerous destinations which many passengers currently travel to from Glasgow or Edinburgh by connecting through other places.

Mr Dewar, when I interviewed him in February last year, made no bones about Glasgow Airport being Edinburgh’s nearest competitor, and the degree of the rivalry. He also highlighted airports across Western Europe as competitors in the drive to win routes.

And Mr Jandu, for his part, highlighted when I spoke to him in April last year a desire to win back passengers which Glasgow Airport considers to be in its natural catchment area.

Noting he knew Mr Dewar, Mr Jandu observed: “Maybe about 14% of the people who could be flying from here are making the trip to Edinburgh.”

He added: “Our goal is not to steal anything that wasn’t naturally ours back from Edinburgh. Our natural market share has shrunk over the last decade and that is not right.”

Asked what had caused the drop in market share at Glasgow Airport, Mr Jandu replied: “The main reason is because there are more airlines that took the decision to fly from Edinburgh, whatever the reason.”

Mr Dewar, asked for his view on Glasgow Airport’s major investment in its terminal building and its talk about regaining traffic from its natural catchment area when I interviewed him last May, seemed a little less combative in tone about the degree of competition with his rival than in February 2025.

He said last May: “I guess they are articulating their objectives and what they would like to do, and good luck with it.

“I am not overly perturbed by their announcement. I can understand why they have these aspirations.”

While news of Mr Dewar’s exit was somewhat out of the blue, it is worth noting the length of time he has been in the top post at Edinburgh Airport.

And Mr Dewar, who will be 60 next month, is very much staying around for now.

The airport said it is expected Mr Dewar will leave his role towards the end of 2026 following the search for his successor.

Edinburgh Airport, which has been majority-owned by Paris-based VINCI Airports since 2024, noted Mr Dewar’s “second tenure as CEO…saw passenger numbers grow dramatically by 85% from nine million in 2012 to almost 17 million in 2025”.

It added: “He steered the airport through the Covid pandemic, where passenger numbers fell to almost zero, and its subsequent recovery.”

Mr Dewar appeared in upbeat form as he announced his plans to depart in a press release issued last Wednesday.

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He declared: “In my remaining months I look forward to helping find my successor and to continue driving the momentum of this business that has the brightest of futures and limitless opportunities. I will also be able to use that time to show my appreciation and thanks to all who have shaped this amazing journey and will continue to do so.”

Mr Dewar was last May keen to highlight the economic contribution of Edinburgh Airport, and its importance in providing major employment not just directly but on the “campus” as a whole.

The airport chief observed these job numbers totalled nearly 8,000, including around 1,000 people employed directly by the airport.

He also came across as passionate about the part that the airport can play in supporting housing and infrastructure development in west Edinburgh.

Mr Dewar last May estimated Edinburgh Airport’s annual contribution to the economy would by that stage have risen to at least £1.6 billion.

Asked then about the airport’s capacity, in the context of its rapid increase in passenger numbers in recent years and the further expansion of flights projected, he replied: “We have to build quickly…but we are not at the stage of being full yet. That has been true since 2012 where, apart from Covid, we have been in a constant build programme to keep up with that demand.

“We have got the space. We have got the funding. It is just a matter of getting it all lined up and making sure it lands the day before it is needed.”

Mr Dewar at that stage highlighted the extent to which overall passenger growth at Edinburgh Airport had been driven by international flights. He also flagged the airport’s success in building inbound traffic, highlighting the attraction of Edinburgh to overseas visitors.

And he underlined the scale of the growth in the long-haul segment at Edinburgh Airport and the general reduction in domestic traffic as things he did not foresee when he became chief executive.

Mr Dewar said: “The ratio of international [traffic] we have is higher. All the growth is international. We have increased our proportion of inbound [passenger traffic]. The American routes – they tend to be stronger inbound demand.”

It did not appear that he was affording himself any significant euphoria over the somewhat spectacular increase in passenger numbers at Edinburgh Airport when asked about this in the interview last May, although he was in confident enough form.

Asked then if he would in 2012 have envisaged passenger numbers being where they were by last May, Mr Dewar replied: “We had a five-year plan [in 2012] which we slightly bettered.

“Thirteen years later, the mix is slightly different from what I expected. No one would have seen the reduction in domestic and during Covid.”

He declared that “no one would have seen the growth in long haul”.

Edinburgh Airport said in late January that 16,980,588 passengers travelled through it during 2025, up from 15,792,395 passengers in the previous year. In 2023, Edinburgh Airport’s passenger numbers totalled 14,396,794.

The announcement of Mr Dewar’s departure last week, while out of the blue, was also somewhat low-key.

That said, while he may not be the type to pop the Champagne corks, Mr Dewar looks to be leaving at a time when Edinburgh Airport remains very much on an upward trajectory.

© Herald Scotland