A decision on whether Heathrow will revive its controversial plans for a third runway will be made “hopefully in the next few months” the airport’s finance chief said today.
The £14 billion proposal, which has been bitterly opposed by environmental campaigners and west London residents, was mothballed during the pandemic and is still officially “under review.”
However, with passengers numbers bouncing back far faster than forecast after travel restrictions were lifted in 2022, airport bosses are thought increasingly likely to give the third runway clearance for take-off once again.
Today Heathrow’s CFO Sally Ding said the leadership team had to be sure it was “the right plan that supports economic growth and meets the four tests” set by the new Labour administration.
These relate to economic growth, climate change obligations and noise and air pollution targets.
But she added the government had been “very supportive of the aviation industry and positive about airport expansion in general.”She was speaking as Heathrow revealed it is on course for its busiest ever year as it upgraded its forecast number of passengers for 2024 to a record 83.8 million, up from 82.8 million at the half year stage.
Britain’s biggest airport also reported a strong return to profits in the first nine months of the year and said it was “probable” that it would start paying a dividend again for the first time since before the pandemic.
Passengers numbers have bounced back far more rapidly than expected since the last of the Covid era travel restrictions were lifted in 2022 for the UK and 2023 for some foreign destinations.
The new forecast will smash the previous high water mark of 80.9 million in 2019. That slumped to just 22.1 million in 2020 and 19.4 million in 2021 before recovering rapidly to 79.2 million last year.
Heathrow said passenger numbers were boosted by “a summer of sport and music” including the Euros football tournament, the Olympics and the Taylor Swift concerts that attracted millions to fly in and out of London.
The airport added in its third quarter financial statement: “While Olympic travellers were taking advantage of European city breaks, iconic music stars passing through the UK caused a late summer spike in departures. Heathrow experienced both the busiest departures and busiest arrivals day in the airport’s history on 24 July and 2 September, respectively. To reflect the sustained record-breaking passenger numbers, the 2024 forecast has been increased to 83.8 million.
From June to September, 30.7 million passengers passed through Heathrow, bringing the total for the first nine months to 63.1 million.
For the first nine months of the year revenue fell slightly to £2.65 billion, reflecting the lower charges that Heathrow is allowed to levy on airlines under a CAA ruling. However, pre-tax profits of £350 million compare with a loss of £19 million for the same period last year.
CEO Thomas Woldbye said: “This summer has tested our colleagues, infrastructure and airlines to cooperate harder than ever before, with record numbers of passengers travelling through the busiest two-runway airport in the world. We have risen to this challenge, delivering excellent service with over 91% of passengers waiting at security for less than 5 minutes.
“Looking forwards, the Autumn Budget is a prime opportunity to set the aviation industry up for long term success. Backing British SAF through a revenue certainty mechanism and committing to joined up policy making that makes sense for aviation will supercharge Heathrow’s potential to deliver growth and investment for the whole of the country.”
