UK. Heathrow Airport today revealed its first quarter results for 2019, with retail revenue growing by a solid 2.6% to £160 million. This compared favourably with a company-wide revenue decline of 0.1% to £679 million in the three months to 31 March, and was ahead of passenger traffic growth of 1.4%.
Retail revenue growth, said Heathrow Airport, “reflected strong traffic performance and a higher percentage of participating passengers”. Food and beverage benefited from an enhanced offer while other retail saw a significant increase in advertising income from greater use of media sites. Car parking declined due to a reduction in passengers travelling to domestic destinations. The key figure of retail revenue per passenger rose 1.1% to £8.92 in the period.
Adjusted EBITDA rose by 1% to £406 million while operating profits slipped by 3.2% to £214 million.
The airport handled a record 17.9 million passengers in the first three months of 2019, an increase of 1.4% on the same period last year. March 2019 was the 29th month of consecutive record passenger numbers.
Intercontinental routes continue to be the key geographic driver of growth, resulting in long haul traffic increasing by 2.1% on last year. North American traffic was a driver of this through increased flight frequency and aircraft size to a number of destinations such as Dallas, New York (JFK), Boston and Detroit, and a new route to Nashville. African traffic also grew strongly driven by increased flight frequency to Johannesburg and new routes to Marrakesh, Seychelles and Durban.
Heathrow CEO John-Holland Kaye said: “2019 is an important year for Heathrow as we put in place the building blocks that will define Britain’s global connectivity for decades to come. With passengers continuing to choose Heathrow in record numbers, the strong backing of global investors and a credible plan to expand responsibly, we’re ramping up for growth and excited about building a bigger and better hub airport for Britain.”
