Heathrow record Q1 performance

Heathrow achieved its 29th consecutive month of growth, welcoming a record 17.9 million passengers in Q1 2019, more passengers than ever before.

Passenger satisfaction reached new highs with Terminal 5 beating international competition to be crowned the best airport terminal in the world at the annual Skytrax awards. Heathrow is delivering good value for passengers with airport charges declining 2.4% to £22.13 per passenger and 82.6% of passengers said they had an “Excellent” or “Very Good” experience at Heathrow.

New routes boost Britain’s connectivity as over 210 global destinations are now connected via a direct flight from Heathrow after the Newquay, Chengdu, Osaka, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Charleston routes launched in Q1. Up to 40 new long-haul services are set to give a further boost to Britain’s global connectivity once Heathrow expands.

Robust financial health

Higher retail spending resulted in a healthy £679 million in overall revenues and Adjusted EBITDA increasing by 1% to £406 million.

Our robust financial health enables us to access competitively priced funding which ultimately results in lower passenger charges. This was demonstrated by successful returns to both the EUR and CHF markets and multiple private placements by global investors. Heathrow has already raised over £1 billion long dated finance in 2019 setting the groundwork to fund expansion entirely privately without a cost for the taxpayer.

Sustainable future for colleagues and communities

Heathrow is delivering a more sustainable future airport – reporting strong progress on increasing the number of women in senior roles and decreasing both gender pay and bonus gaps. In addition, we launched an aviation think tank comprised of five UK universities coordinating research in areas like carbon and net zero carbon air travel, noise, air quality and waste.

With expansion on the horizon, Heathrow is set to invest nearly £1 billion into the airport over the coming year to prepare us for the future growth that expansion will unlock. Following a successful consultation on modernising the airspace around Heathrow in Q1, Heathrow is preparing to unveil its detailed preferred masterplan for public consultation in June.

John Holland-Kaye, Chief Executive Officer of Heathrow, 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."