Heathrow in the recent release said, “The cap we have introduced to keep demand in balance with airline ground handler capacity means that people travelling through Heathrow since schools broke up on Thursday have had a smooth and reliable journey. This builds on the success of previous peaks at Easter and the Jubilee Bank Holiday when Heathrow operated smoothly while there was disruption at other airports. The airport is busy during peak times, but any queues are well managed and kept moving.”
The airport further added, “We started ramping up our own operations in November 2021, and encouraged airlines and their ground handlers to do the same. Planning has been based on summer peak demand exceeding 85% of 2019, broadly in line with actuals. All parts of the airport are now fully operational. We have hired 1,300 people in the last 6 months and will have a similar level of security resources by the end of July as pre-pandemic. We have additional service colleagues and our entire management team is deployed on “Here to Help” shifts to support passengers in the terminals this summer.”
“We have been raising our concerns over the lack of handler resources for 9 months. We estimate that airline ground handlers have no more than 70% of the pre-pandemic resources, and there has been no increase in numbers since January. In the second half of June, as departing passenger numbers regularly exceeded 100,000 a day, we started to see a worrying increase in unacceptable service levels for some passengers; an increase in delays to get planes on to stand, bags not travelling with passengers or being delivered very late to the baggage hall, low departure punctuality and some flights being cancelled after passengers had boarded. This showed us that demand had started to exceed the capacity of airline ground handlers and we took swift action to protect consumers by applying a cap on departing passenger numbers, better aligned with their resources. Airline ground handler performance has been much more stable since the cap came into effect, and we have seen a marked improvement in punctuality and baggage performance. Heathrow’s cap is 50% higher than Schiphol’s, which shows how much better the airport and airlines have planned at Heathrow than our competitors. The cap will remain in place until airlines increase their ground handler resource.”
As revenue is concerned, the airport said, ” Our adjusted loss before tax reduced by £466m to £321m as a result of higher passenger numbers, higher aeronautical charges offset by increased costs as we invested ahead of demand. Passenger numbers, operating costs and revenues are in line with the H7 business plan submitted to the CAA. Our balance sheet remains strong with gearing ratios now below pre-pandemic levels and strong liquidity.”
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:
“The summer getaway has started well at Heathrow, thanks to early planning and keeping demand in line with airline ground handler capacity. I’m proud of the hard work everyone at Heathrow is doing which has helped millions of people get away already, and will help millions more travel on their well-earned summer breaks in the weeks ahead. We can’t ignore that COVID has left the aviation sector deeply scarred, and the next few years will need investment to rebuild capacity, with a focus on safety, consumer service, resilience and efficiency. Airlines need to recruit and train more ground handlers; airports need to catch up on underinvestment during the COVID years – at Heathrow, that means replacing the T2 baggage system and new security lanes. Recent months have shown that passengers value easy, quick and reliable journeys, not penny-pinching, and the CAA should be encouraging the investment that will deliver for consumers.”
| At or for 6 months ended 30 June | 2021 | 2022 | Change (%) |
| (£m unless otherwise stated) | |||
| Revenue | 348 | 1,280 | 267.8 |
| Cash generated from operations | 177 | 755 | 326.6 |
| (Loss)/Profit before tax | (868) | 263 | — |
| Adjusted Loss before tax | (787) | (321) | 59.2 |
| Adjusted EBITDA | (33) | 744 | — |
| Heathrow (SP) Limited consolidated nominal net debt | 13,332 | 14,507 | 8.8 |
| Heathrow Finance plc consolidated nominal net debt | 15,440 | 15,561 | 0.8 |
| Regulatory Asset Base | 17,474 | 18,425 | 5.4 |
| Passengers (million) | 3.9 | 26.1 | 577.5 |