AIRPORT bosses in Glasgow have had their best summer in five years.

They handled more than two million passengers during a hectic 13-week period and the city's marketing men were praised for helping to boost numbers.

New statistics reveal that almost 2.4m tourists and business people flew in and out of Glasgow during June, July and August which made it the busiest summer peak period since 2008.

Figures soared in June and July and last month was no different.

August saw 745,897 passengers pass through the terminal building - 42,421 more than a year earlier.

Numbers for both domestic and international flights were up 6% with major airlines such as Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and KLM all reporting increased demand.

And airport chiefs shared their success with Glasgow City Marketing Bureau which is charged with promoting the city and plays a major role in attracting conferences and events.

Tens of thousands of passengers jetted in and out of Glasgow last month when the marketing team brought the World Pipe Band Championships to the city along with the UDO World Street Dance Championships.

Airport boss Amanda McMillan said: "We enjoyed an extremely busy summer with more than 125,000 additional passengers using the airport during June, July and August compared to the same period last year.

"Not only was it our busiest summer in five years, it was one of our best in terms of operational performance.

"Despite the significant increase in numbers and a host of large scale events, 99.4% of our passengers passed through security in less than 10 minutes during the summer months."

Airport chiefs have worked flat out to turn round the hub's fortunes after Glasgow lost its crown as Scotland's busiest airport to its main rival at Edinburgh.

The west coast airport has recorded steady growth over the last two years and hopes are high that numbers will continue to rise.

A number of airlines have increased seating capacity by laying on more flights or using larger planes while Celtic's progression in the Uefa Champions League has resulted in easyJet and Jet2.com organising football specials to Amsterdam and Barcelona respectively.

gordon.thomson@eveningtimes.co.uk