Heathrow airport has made dividend payments to shareholders for the first time in five years.
The west London airport said it completed the £250 million transaction on March 7 “as a result of our strong operational and financial performance in 2024”.
In December 2024, French company Ardian completed a deal to become Heathrow’s largest shareholder with a 23% stake, while Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund purchased a 15% share.
This was a result of Spanish company Ferrovial selling the majority of its 25% stake, and sales by other shareholders.
Heathrow’s other owners include sovereign wealth funds from Qatar and China, and large infrastructure funds.
Some 18.2 million passengers travelled through the airport’s four terminals between January and March.
That is down 1.6% from 18.5 million during the same period last year.
The airport previously attributed the decline to the timing of Ramadan and Easter this year, along with the 10-hour closure on March 21 because of a power outage caused by a fire at a nearby electricity substation.
It said on Wednesday it expects demand across the year as a whole to “exceed 2024” when it served a record 83.9 million passengers.
