Heathrow airport has said it is still loss-making, even as it continues to be Europe’s busiest airport, welcoming almost 17 million passengers in the first three months of the year.
The airport also said that passengers would be able to “travel as normal” during the peak getaway period around the coronation of King Charles III, taking place on 6 May, despite a fresh planned strike by security staff.
Releasing its financial results for the first three months of the year, the airport said it had not yet returned to profit after the coronavirus pandemic, and reported an adjusted pre-tax loss of £139m for the first quarter. It is not forecasting paying any shareholder dividends in 2023.
Heathrow is blaming the regulator for the level at which it has set its annual price cap for the amount it can charge airlines for using the airport for preventing it from increasing its earnings.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible for setting the amount Heathrow can charge each airline customer. The current level for 2023 means the average maximum per-passenger fee remains at £31.57 this year. It will, however, drop to £25.43 in 2024, and stay broadly flat until the end of 2026.
Heathrow called this cap “too low” and said it had appealed against the CAA’s settlement to the competition watchdog, the Competition and Markets Authority.
The CAA has previously said its decision could contribute to lower fares for passengers in the coming years.
About 1,400 security officers at Heathrow, who are members of the Unite union, plan to strike for a further eight days in May in a dispute over pay, after industrial action taken over Easter.
Unite has previously said the strike would cause “inevitable disruption and delays” at a time when people were expected to travel to the UK.
Heathrow said it did not believe the strike action would have an impact on passengers travelling through the airport and said customers would be able to get away as normal around the coronation and during the May half-term holidays.
The airport said it had enjoyed a “strong performance” during the previous school half-term and the Easter holidays.
As passengers return to air travel after the pandemic, Heathrow said it was offering more flights to certain destinations including Chinese cities, after the country reopened its borders after Covid.
The airport’s chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, said the year had “got off to a strong start”. However, he is calling on the government to make the UK more attractive for overseas visitors compared with the EU by reversing the decision to remove tax-free shopping for tourists, which he called the “tourist tax”.
“We are building our route network to connect all of Britain to the growing markets of the world – now we need the government to lure international visitors back to the UK by scrapping the tourist tax,” Holland-Kaye said.
