Heathrow cuts losses after ‘extraordinary’ summer

Heathrow airport has sharply cut its losses and raised its passenger forecasts following an “extraordinary” summer of travel. The UK’s biggest airport on Thursday said it expected 79.3mn passengers to travel through it this year, up from a previous forecast of between 70mn and 78mn.  Heathrow raised its forecasts after it handled 29mn passengers this summer, as airports and airlines across Europe enjoyed soaring demand for travel. The airport reported particularly “robust” demand from long-haul markets including Asia-Pacific, where there has been a rapid recovery to 94 per cent of pre-pandemic passenger numbers following the reopening of many borders earlier in the year. The airport now expects total passenger numbers to return to 2019 levels next year. Many of the airlines that operate from Heathrow have reported bumper profits, but Heathrow has remained lossmaking for the year to date.  The airport reported an adjusted pre-tax loss of GBP19mn for the first nine months of the year, down from a GBP442mn loss for the same period in 2022.  This came despite an increase in operating profit to GBP1.1b, from GBP685m, as revenues rose from GBP2.1b to GBP2.7b. Heathrow pinned its overall losses on the higher cost of servicing its debt following rises in interest rates, and a cap imposed by the UK aviation regulator on the landing fees it can charge airlines. The UK’s competition regulator this month upheld a decision by the Civil Aviation Authority that Heathrow should cut its charges to airlines by almost a fifth from GBP31.57 per passenger to GBP25.43 from next year.  “The charges we are allowed to levy are too low,” said Heathrow’s CFO Javier Echave. “The change in inflation and interest rates should have been factored in by the regulator, but unfortunately they have not got it right,” he said.<br/>