Spanish airport operator Aena is considering buying Edinburgh airport, newspaper Expansion reported on Thursday, citing unidentified sources close to the sale process.

U.S. fund Global Infrastructure Partners controls a 80.1% stake and expects to raise 2.5 billion pounds ($3.19 billion) from the sale, Expansion said, adding the fund has hired HSBC as adviser.

Aena, Global Infrastructure Partners and HSBC's Spanish unit did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Aena operates all Spanish commercial airports and has recovered from the pandemic travel slump faster than most rivals in the region thanks to a swift recovery of leisure tourism.

Edinburgh airport is the sixth largest in Britain in terms of number of passengers and has returned to 93% of pre-pandemic traffic, Expansion said. ($1 = 0.7835 pounds) (Reporting by Jakub Olesiuk, editing by Inti Landauro and Elaine Hardcastle)