GLASGOW Airport is celebrating its busiest-ever November with more than 682,800 passengers travelling through its doors last month.

The figure represents an increase of 2.5% on the same period last year.

Scheduled services to EU countries increased by 10.5% thanks to additional capacity and strong demand on a number of new Ryanair routes including Madrid, Lisbon, Valencia, Krakow and Frankfurt as well as Lufthansa's Munich service.

International traffic grew by 6.2% due to increased demand for winter sun destinations and additional capacity on a number of routes including Icelandair's service to Reykjavik and long-haul flights to North America and Florida. Emirates twice daily service to Dubai was also up 12%.

Domestic services to London remained the same as last year while regional flights were up 4.5% because of additional capacity on a number of routes including Bristol, Belfast and Manchester.

Amanda McMillan, managing director at Glasgow Airport, said 2017 had been a fantastic year in terms of passenger growth.

She added: “Our November figures not only guarantee we approach the end of the year on a high, they also help ensure we are in a strong position as we prepare to enter 2018.

“Our efforts in securing 30 new routes and services have been instrumental in making 2017 the most successful year in the airport's history.

“As well as consolidating our position as Scotland's leading long-haul airport, we have also significantly added to our now burgeoning European network.

“The recent introduction of the Madrid, Krakow, Frankfurt and Munich routes also helped boost inbound tourism in November with a large number of visitors arriving in Glasgow for a city break.

“Looking ahead, December's passenger numbers are already off to a great start with a number of early festive flights to Lapland ensuring we are well on our way to a fantastic Christmas gift of 12 record months in 2017.”

Glasgow Airport has 30 airlines serving more than 130 destinations worldwide including Canada, the US the Caribbean, Europe and the Gulf.

As well as being Scotland's largest charter hub, it serves more Scottish destinations than an other airport.

It supports over 7300 jobs across Scotland and makes the largest contribution of any airport to Scotland's economy, generating hundreds of million of pounds.