Departing aircraft are routed along Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs) on the flight path which will get them to their destination by the most efficient route.
Edinburgh Airport has one primary runway (Runway 06/24), which operates in two directions. When Runway 06 is in operation, aircraft arrive from the west and depart to the east. When Runway 24 is in operation, aircraft arrive from the east and depart to the west.
The following Standard Instrument Departure routes (SIDs) and their Noise Preferential Route (NPR) currently in use at Edinburgh Airport are:
| GRICE 3C | GRICE 4D |
| GOSAM 1C | GOSAM 1D |
| TALLA 5C | TALLA 5D |
SIDs are given their name by a place or position/point that they lead to. GRICE is a point in rural Perthshire and TALLA is near Carlisle, and GOSAM is towards East Kilbride. Aircraft will generally be given the routing along the SID which will get them to their destination the quickest
The charts below provide detail on how many aircraft used each of our SIDs per month during 2019 - 2022. Updated data for 2023 will be uploaded on a Quarterly basis.
SIDs per month 2024
SIDs per month 2023
SIDs per month 2022
SID's per month 2019 - 2021
As you can see below, the route used by an aircraft is not only determined by its ultimate destination, but also by wind direction.
SIDs only relate to departing aircraft, arriving aircraft do not have SIDs. They are routed in by our air traffic controlers to maintain safe seperation between arriving and departing aircraft.
To assist you in further understanding our arriving and departing aircraft and our current flight paths please download and read our procedure for Arriving and Departing Aircraft