Aberdeen Airport's impressive run of rising passenger numbers continued during September, operator BAA said yesterday.
The north-east gateway was used by 302,900 people last month, a 1.4% increase on September 2011 and a 20th consecutive month of year-on-year growth.
There was a late boost from the start of scheduled flights to London City Airport - operated by British Airways - but the Granite City terminal still faced an uphill task to better the total recorded a year earlier.
Aberdeen's biennial Offshore Europe oil and gas show saw thousands of extra passengers flooding in around the start of September 2011.
Derek Provan, Aberdeen Airport managing director, said: "To show growth on top of last year's strong month is impressive.
"We're delighted that, despite the tough economic climate, Aberdeen Airport continues to attract ever more passengers, particularly on our international services."
Looking ahead, Mr Provan said the loss of BMI - broken up and sold this year - and the ongoing impact of the recession meant the domestic market was likely to contract.
But a looming decision by the European Commission affecting landing slots at London Heathrow could see a new player enter the market, he added.
Virgin Atlantic has already pledged to operate flights from Aberdeen to Heathrow from the end of March, if it can secure prized landing slots BA has had to give up as a condition of its takeover of part of rival BMI.
Glasgow Airport saw the strongest growth among BAA's five UK terminals last month, with passenger numbers in Scotland's largest city up by 5.6% to 736,100.
Heathrow's total grew by 0.6% to 6.35million but traveller numbers at London Stansted and Southampton fell by 4% to 1.64million and 4.4% to 168,000 respectively.
Edinburgh Airport, which is under different ownership, was used by 880,124 people last month; a 2.2% fall, compared with September 2011.
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