Popular routes to Europe and the Middle East contributed to an 18% growth in international passenger numbers at Edinburgh Airport.

Fresh figures for April show more than a million people went through its doors, amounting to an overall rise of 8.7% compared with April 2015.

International passengers now account for more than half of all the airport's traffic, while domestic travel was down 2.2% in the month.

The "moving annual total" of people using the airport grew by 10.9% in April to more than 11.5m passengers.

Popular destinations included Berlin, Madrid, Doha and Abu Dhabi, while services to the US continued to perform well.

Chief executive Gordon Dewar said: "Edinburgh Airport's international air services are the lifeblood of Scotland's tourism industry and are offering better global connections for Scots businesses than ever before.

"Scotland is no longer dependent on London for its place in the world.

"The airport is an increasingly important social and economic asset, providing 23,000 jobs and economic output of around £1bn."

He said he and his colleagues were keen to build on the success, potentially doubling the number of jobs here in the next few years and campaigning for air passenger duty to be halved.