Heathrow raises passenger growth outlook as it flies into profit

Britain and Europe’s busiest aviation hub signals the return of dividend payments, saying the potential for payouts to shareholders for 2024 is ‘plausible’
Robert Lea
, Industrial Editor
The Times
The return to profitability at Heathrow came despite a drop in its main source of revenue, the fees it charges airlines to take off and land, after a row with the Civil Aviation Authority and its airline customers, most notably the British Airways group IAG
The return to profitability at Heathrow came despite a drop in its main source of revenue, the fees it charges airlines to take off and land, after a row with the Civil Aviation Authority and its airline customers, most notably the British Airways group IAG
JASON ALDEN/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
Robert Lea
, Industrial Editor
The Times

Heathrow airport has revised up the number of passengers it will handle this year to a record 82.4 million as it begins to hatch plans to increase the total number of travellers passing through its terminals to 90 million a year.

The airport, which lost billions of pounds during the pandemic, is also back in the black in the first quarter of the year with pre-tax profits of £89 million due to a sharp fall in the cost of servicing its £16.5 billion of debt.

Britain and Europe’s busiest aviation hub has also held up the possibility of the return of dividend payments, which were halted with the arrival of Covid-19, saying the potential for payouts to shareholders for 2024 was “plausible”.

Heathrow fell £139