A total of 14.31 million passengers, representing growth of 6.5%, used the airport over the year.

The increase was driven by the international market, where passenger numbers rose by 9.5% to 8.93 million, while the domestic market grew by 1.9% to 5.38 million.

December also gave the airport an additional boost after an 11% increase in passengers year-on-year to 1.03 million.

Edinburgh airport chief executive Gordon Dewar said: “From the Middle East to the Far East and Europe to America, we offer more than 150 destinations from Edinburgh, and it’s that variety of choice which is driving our growth.

"Be it a city break in Copenhagen, a business conference in London or a family holiday to Dubai, we are catering across the spectrum.

“New routes and destinations for 2019 have already been announced and we’ll continue to add growth where we can.

"The uncertainty around Brexit obviously poses challenges and it’s crucial that we at least preserve access to that single aviation market that allows flights to pass freely through European skies, connecting Scotland to the whole of Europe.

"We also need to see movement on the pledge to cut Air Passenger Duty so we can continue to be competitive against other nations and harness the full potential of our industry and bolster the economy through tourism.

“There’s also infrastructure challenges such as our access road, a price we have to pay for our continued growth.

"We’re working on short and long-term solutions and that planning to improve access is something that will continue as we look ahead to what we hope is another successful year.”