- Pre-tax profits fell 18pc to £136.5m in six months to June 30
- Passenger numbers dropped 4.7pc to 19.1m, with long-haul down 9.2pc
- Court of Appeal ruling cleared way for £2.2bn second runway expansion
- Operating revenues rose 4.8pc to £515.2m while costs increased 5pc
- Workforce reduced by 82 people through voluntary redundancy programme
Gatwick Airport has reported pre-tax profits of £136.5m for the six months to June 30, representing an 18pc decline from £166.2m a year ago as the Iran war has impacted international travel demand. The West Sussex airport has recorded 19.1m passengers travelling through its two terminals over the first half, down 4.7pc compared with a year earlier. Long-haul passengers have suffered the steepest decline at 9.2pc due to the Middle East conflict, while short-haul passengers have fallen 3.9pc.
The group, England’s second busiest airport and one of the busiest single-runway airports in the world, has confirmed that passenger demand was impacted by concerns over jet fuel supplies amid the war, though stressed there had been no shortages so far. Travellers have been booking closer to departure because of uncertainty caused by the conflict, with some low-cost airlines cutting their flight programmes in response to the tougher trading conditions. The results have followed a Court of Appeal ruling at the start of August that paved the way for development of Gatwick’s second runway, with the court dismissing a bid by campaigners to challenge a High Court ruling in June that the scheme could proceed.
The £2.2bn 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. The group’s half-year results showed operating profits lifted 5pc to £197.2m as revenues rose 4.8pc to £515.2m, while operating costs lifted 5pc to £318m with staff expenses making up more than a third of this, up 7.4pc at £7.5m. 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 3.1pc or 82 people year-on-year to 2,572 at the end of June.
Pierre Hugues-Schmit, chief executive of London Gatwick, shared “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”
