Heathrow Airport, Britain's busiest hub, reported a smaller annual loss on Thursday, as it continues to recover from the pandemic, but said underlying profitability was impacted by inflation and lower passenger numbers.
For 2022, Heathrow's adjusted loss before tax narrowed to 684 million pounds ($825.04 million) from the 1.27 billion pound loss it made in the year-earlier period, which was affected by pandemic travel restrictions. Heathrow, which is owned by Spanish group Ferrovial (FER.MC) and Qatar Investment Authority plus other investors, said no dividends were paid in 2022 and none were planned for 2023 as its financing remains conservative.
Heathrow said passenger numbers trebled to 61.6 million passengers, compared to the airport's forecast for it to serve 60 – 62 million people. That forecast represented 25% fewer than in 2019, the year before COVID-19.
The company, which had to impose a cap on passengers numbers due to staff shortages last year, said its outlook for 2023 was consistent with the forecasts published in December.
Separately, a Feb. 14 document published by Airport Coordination Limited, an independent slot co-ordination company, showed Heathrow would prevent airlines from adding additional flights to their existing summer schedules.
In response, Heathrow confirmed that ad hoc flights would not be added to peak scheduling times during the summer.
($1 = 0.8287 pounds)