Thousands of people have responded to a consultation about changing flight paths at Scotland's busiest airport.

Edinburgh Airport launched the call for views on its airspace change programme in June this year and the process closed on Monday.

The airport's communications director Gordon Robertson has now revealed the consultation was viewed 80,000 times and attracted more than 5000 responses from members of the public.

Mr Robertson described the level of feedback as "excellent" and said he acknowledges some people have "real concerns" about changes to flight paths.

He said: "Our data analysis team are working on delivering a detailed report on the first stage of our public consultation which will show detail on sentiment and the geographical spread of the feedback responses.

"Crucially, the responses we received will also help us map the design of the proposals that we put forward for the second stage of the consultation, set to begin early in 2017.

"We recognise that some people have very real concerns. The aim of the consultation process is to allow us to grow to meet the ever-increasing demand on our runway at peak times while minimising disruption on the ground."

Mr Robertson stressed no changes can be made to existing flight paths until a further stage of consultation, proposing specific routes, is completed and the plans approved by the Civil Aviation Authority.

The proposed implementation of new flight paths would also coincide with the use of improved navigation technology, which will enable the airport to increase the frequency of take-offs and landings.

Earlier this month, the airport apologised after almost 200 responses to their consultation were lost.

Officials extended the consultation's closing date by a week to Monday because of the blunder.