Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports make huge loss
Manchester Airport Holdings, which owns Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands airports, made a pre-tax loss of £81.9 million in the six months to the end of September due to the coronavirus crisis.
Revenue plunged to £93.8m, down 82.5%, after passenger traffic through all three airports fell to just 4.2 million for the half-year.
In the same period last year, the airport handled 36.4m passengers and made a profit of £270.7m.
In a statement this morning, MAG said: "The management response to the challenges we have faced has been measured, strong and focused on long term recovery.
"We immediately put a halt on all non-essential expenditure and asked all MAG colleagues to take a 10% pay cut from April 2020 for a year.
"We have reduced the size of our management team, which has resulted in a streamlined operation with approximately 25% fewer leaders and back office roles. We have also been consulting with our unions and colleagues regarding a wide range of measures including potential reductions of up to 892 roles across the broader organisation.
"These steps were the correct and proportionate reaction to the situation. We have been supported through this period by our shareholders, who have contributed £300m of additional funding to provide the business with cash reserves of £644.5m at 30 September 2020, inclusive of proceeds from the sale of the Group’s property book.
"In addition, our listed bondholders and investors have agreed to new conditions on borrowing, waiving the Group’s loan covenants for the period to 31 March 2021, to enable us to operate in the current financial environment.
"Together, these actions stand us in good stead for the coming months."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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