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Edinburgh Airport has gone sparkly for Christmas

December 1, 2017 6:35 pm

Edinburgh Airport has lit up the iconic control tower with Christmas lights for the first time.

There are around 20,000 lights strung on 2,000 metres of cable wound round the tower to help guide Santa into land there during the festive season.

Ryan Rafferty (10) from Ballingry in Fife had won the competition to push the big red button and turn the lights on. His mum Elaine had put forward his name as he had been so helpful at home when she was in hospital for four weeks recovering from serious injury.

Edinburgh Airport’s Chief Operating Officer Adrian Witherow said: “The control tower is one of the city’s and Scotland’s most iconic structures and what better way to make it a little more special than lighting it up for Christmas.

“It’s a great welcome for those arriving into the capital to spend time with family or see what the city’s Christmas festivities have to offer, and a great send off for those heading the other way. We also want to spread some Christmas cheer to staff.

“And like everyone else, we also had to sit and untangle the lights before dressing them on our own unique tree so you can imagine our delight when everything turned on successfully!”

Ryan said: “It was very exciting because Christmas is a special time and it was a very special job to turn the lights on.

“It really meant a lot to me as I’ve never done anything like this before and I’m very proud to be given the opportunity.”

Kay Gillespie, Passenger Experience Leader at Edinburgh Airport said: “We always like to bring Christmas cheer to passengers at the airport and we’ve taken that a step further this year – bringing Christmas to the surrounding area.

“We’re also glad to be helping Santa find his way to Edinburgh a little easier as he’ll be unable to miss us!”

Charlotte Garvie is Managing Director of The Christmas Decorators Edinburgh and said: “When we were given the challenge to light up the air traffic control tower there was a lot of excitement but ultimately a momentary ‘how on earth are we going to do this’.

“Creating solutions to things that popped up along the way was made 100 times easier working with the professional and enthusiastic airport team. We hope everyone enjoys the extra sprinkling of festive sparkle this year!”