Heathrow is on course for a fourth consecutive year in the red after it slumped to a loss of £139 million in the first three months of the year.
Boss John Holland-Kaye blamed an unfavourable decision on the level of take-off and landing fees that the west London hub can charge airlines for the failure to recover into profit despite a huge leap in passenger numbers since the end of the pandemic.
The CEO, who steps down later this year, said there was “nothing we can do however efficiently we run the airport” that would return Heathrow to the black. There will also be no dividend payment this year.
Heathrow, which has regained its status as Europe’s busiest international airport, last made a profit in 2019 but was saddled with huge losses during the Covid years of from 2020 to 2022.
The CAA confirmed last month that the average maximum price Heathrow can charge airlines per passenger will fall by about 20% from £31.57 in 2023 to £25.43 in 2024 and will remain broadly flat at that level until the end of 2026.
In its statement today Heathrow said there were “a number of areas in which the CAA has made clear errors which will undermine the investment needed to deliver the airport service and resilience consumers want.
“Given this, on 18 April we filed an appeal of the CAA’s decision to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), formally requesting the CMA to review the following parts of the CAA’s decision.”
A decision on whether the CMA will allow an appeal in expected in mid-May. If the appeal gets the green light a final decision is expected between August and October.
Asked what the outlook for the airport would be if the appeal is turned down Holland-Kaye said “we will cross that bridge when we come to it”.
But chief financial officer Javier Echave said the company enjoyed “strong liquidity and very prudent gearing well below pandemic levels.” Net debt stands at £15.8 billion.
The airport revealed that it was used by 16.9 million passengers in the first three months of the year, an increase of 74%.
Holland-Kaye said 2023 “has got off to a strong start, and I’m proud of the way colleagues are working together to deliver great passenger service every day.
“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 that the airport was in “good stead for the summer” and insisted “passengers can have full confidence that the airport will operate as normal over the Coronation weekend and the May half-term” despite threatened industrial action
