By Sandy Murray BBC Scotland business staff

The announcement of a significant new service from a Scottish airport is eagerly awaited.

Continental Airlines already operates a regular service to New York from Glasgow and this will carry on.

The continuing strength of Edinburgh as a financial centre makes it an attractive destination for airlines, despite having a much smaller population in its catchment area than major airports in London, Paris or Frankfurt.

Low-cost travel has performed well

The move comes as Edinburgh plays host to a major international conference on developing air routes.

More than 1,000 delegates, representing 200 airlines and 500 airports, are gathering in the city.

The route development forum allows the operators of Scotland's airports to meet operators and persuade them that there is further potential for direct services here.

The Scottish Executive sees direct flights as a major factor in ensuring economic growth.

Its route development fund is intended to help additional services get off the ground.

In addition BAA, which operates Glasgow International, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports, has promised to assist airlines adding to their route network from Scotland.

The past two years have been difficult for the operators of international air services.

Fraught with danger

The slowdown in the world economy was already reducing demand for travel when the terrorist attacks took place in New York and Washington.

The iconic images of the Twin Towers being destroyed persuaded Americans, especially, that travel outside their borders was fraught with danger.

One of the few bright spots has been low-cost travel.

The continuing growth of the budget airlines has sustained business at the Scottish airports, with Edinburgh seeing some of the most impressive passenger figures.

The most recent addition to the low-cost carriers serving Scotland has been Germania.

This German operator last week launched regular flights from Glasgow Prestwick to Berlin.