Edinburgh Airport contributes nearly £1bn to the Scottish economy annually and supports more than 23,000 jobs, a new report has suggested.

Consultancy firm Biggar Economics was asked to look at the site's economic impact.

It is Scotland's busiest airport and handles more than 11 million passengers a year.

The study predicted that by 2020 it would be worth between £1.1bn and £1bn GVA per year.

The report considered both the direct and indirect benefits of having an airport in Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh.

As well as looking at value of airport operations and on-site shops and food and drink outlets, Biggar also considered the money generated off-site in hotels and car parks and the contribution to the tourism and freight sector.

Key findings included:

• £955.4m of total GVA for Scotland's economy
• £507.1m retained in Greater Edinburgh area
• 23,340 supported jobs (12,330 in Edinburgh)
• Airport and on-site operations (including retail) contributes £400.3m and 8,276 jobs
• Passenger expenditure amounts to £301.9m of GVA per year and supports 9,620 jobs

Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport's chief executive, said: "Edinburgh Airport is an increasingly important economic asset for the country as a whole, and these figures demonstrate just how important a competitive airport is for a country with Scotland's ambition and international profile

"Our growth in recent years has been supported by one of the largest private investments of its kind in national infrastructure, to build new facilities and attract an unprecedented number of new, direct international connections to Scotland

"The result, as the Biggar report shows, is nearly £1bn of economic value and a social impact that extends to more than 20,000 jobs. Those figures will increase and by 2020, we could be supporting twice as many jobs as we do now."

Earlier this month, Edinburgh Airport reported its busiest February on record - handling 770,265 passengers.

Last year the airport ran a trial of a new flight path in a bid to find a way for planes to depart every minute at peak times instead of every two minutes.

Campaigners opposed to the plan have raised concerns about noise levels and vowed to "fight it all the way".

Source: BBC