Gatwick airport profits fall as passenger numbers drop

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Gatwick airport saw its half-year profits drop by almost a fifth following a decline in passenger numbers caused by the conflict in Iran hitting international travel.

The West Sussex airport reported pre-tax profits of £136.5 million for the six months to 30 June, an 18 per cent decrease from £166.2 million a year earlier. Passenger numbers passing through its two terminals fell by 4.7 per cent to 19.1 million over the period.

Long-haul travel experienced the sharpest decline, dropping 9.2 per cent as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, while short-haul passenger numbers fell by 3.9 per cent.

The operator – the UK’s second busiest airport and among the world’s busiest single-runway sites – stated that demand was affected by concerns over jet fuel supplies during the war, though it highlighted that no shortages have occurred.

Passengers are also making bookings closer to their departure dates amid ongoing conflict-related uncertainty, prompting some low-cost airlines to scale back flight programmes amid tougher trading conditions.

The financial updates follow a Court of Appeal ruling at the beginning of August which cleared the path for the development of Gatwick’s second runway.

The court dismissed a bid by campaigners to challenge a High Court ruling in June that the scheme could proceed.

The £2.2 billion expansion, approved by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander in September last year, will see the airport move its emergency runway 12 metres north to accommodate around 100,000 more flights a year.

Pierre Hugues-Schmit, chief executive of London Gatwick, said: “Despite a challenging geopolitical and economic backdrop, London Gatwick has continued to perform well.”

“We are also excited about our longer-term growth opportunities and with the legal process for the Northern Runway Programme now complete, we can turn our focus from planning to detailed design work and delivery,” he added.

The group’s half-year results showed operating profits lifted 5% to £197.2 million as revenues rose 4.8 per cent to £515.2 million.

It said operating costs lifted 5 per cent to £318 million, with staff expenses making up more than a third of this, up 7.4 per cent at £7.5 million.

Gatwick revealed it cut its security workforce earlier this year after launching a voluntary redundancy programme in December, which finished in February and resulted in the full-time workforce reducing by 3.1 per cent, or 82 people, year-on-year to 2,572 at the end of June.

The group said seven airlines joined Gatwick in the first half of the year, including Jet2, Air France, Condor and Eurowings, with another two carriers – Air Zimbabwe and Air Arabia – launched so far in the second half.

Results for the firm also revealed revenues from car parking rose 1.9 per cent to £68.6 million in the first half.