London Heathrow posts another quarterly loss
London Heathrow laid out the financial hit from more than a year of Covid-19 disruption to air travel.
It posted a 2021 Q1 loss of £329 million pushing it to losses of nearly £2.4 billion since the pandemic began.
Just 1.7 million passengers travelled through the airport in the three months to 31 March, which is down a massive 91% compared to 2019..
It reduced passenger forecast for 2021 to between 13 million and 36 million due to continued uncertainty over when and how international travel will be permitted.
While overseas travel could restart from 17 May, it is still unclear to which countries and how digital vaccine passports will work.
Heathrow has just been permitted by the Civil Aviation Authority to increase airport fees to help it recoup heavy losses.
It will be able to charge 30 pence more per passenger, which is only a fraction of what it hoped to charge.
LHR’s initial request to increase fees was ‘disproportionate and not in the interests of consumers; the CAA said.
"We do, however, recognise that these are exceptional circumstances for the airport and there are potential risks to consumers if we take no action in the short term," it added.
The airport posted a 2020 annual loss of £2 billion.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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