Heathrow airport dives into losses
London, UK - London’s Heathrow airport dived into a pre-tax loss of £2bn last year, a result that ‘underlines the devastating impact of COVID-19 on aviation’, it said on Wednesday.
The loss, equivalent to US$2.8bn, reflected a 73 per cent plunge in passenger numbers, Heathrow said in a statement.
The airport, one of the world’s busiest hubs, recorded a pre-tax profit of £546mn in 2019.
Heathrow chief executive officer John Holland-Kaye, who said passenger levels shrunk in 2020 to levels last seen in the 1970s, voiced optimism for the year ahead with Britain vaccinating millions of adults and preparing to exit its virus lockdown.
“We can be hopeful for 2021, with Britain on the cusp of becoming the first country in the world to safely resume international travel and trade at scale,” he said in the earnings statement.
“Getting aviation moving again will save thousands of jobs and reinvigorate the economy.”
Heathrow last year had 22mn passengers compared with 81mn in 2019.
More than half of the 22mn travelled in the first two months of last year, before the pandemic took hold and governments worldwide implemented national lockdowns.
Heathrow’s revenue meanwhile tumbled 62 per cent to £1.2bn in 2020, while cargo volumes slid 28 per cent.
Heathrow said it has £3.9bn of liquidity, enough to see it through until 2023.
The airport’s last financial year was notable also owing to Britain’s Supreme Court ruling that it could build a third runway.
The court in December struck down a Court of Appeal ruling that the UK government had failed to take into account climate change commitments when in 2018 it approved the new runway.
Heathrow on Wednesday said it remains ‘focused on decarbonising aviation’.
The airport is owned by a consortium led by Spanish construction giant Ferrovial.
It also includes sovereign wealth funds from China, Singapore and Qatar as well as North American shareholders.
Heathrow was last year overtaken by Paris Charles de Gaulle as Europe’s top hub in terms of passenger numbers - blaming its relegation on delayed coronavirus testing and travel restrictions.