Q1 passengers on the forecast – Heathrow welcomed 9.7 million passengers in Q1 2022 in line with the forecasts. January and February were much weaker than expected due to Omicron-related travel restrictions, while March demand increased after the unexpectedly quick removal of all UK travel restrictions on 18th March
Heathrow will remain lossmaking in 2022 as COVID losses top £4 billion – Despite increased outbound demand, Heathrow is not forecasting a return to profit and dividends in 2022. Although Q1 2022 revenue climbed to £516m and adjusted EBITDA turned positive to reach £273 million, total pandemic losses have now topped £4.0 billion. Heathrow liquidity remains strong with gearing decreasing to pre-pandemic levels
Easter fuelled by last-minute bookings as we plan for a safe and smooth summer getaway – Once it became clear UK travel restrictions would be fully lifted, employees worked extremely hard putting in place a plan to welcome back a surge of last-minute bookings for the Easter getaway – with over 95% of passengers through security within 5 minutes.
Summer travel bubble, but winter freeze on the horizon – Heathrow seeing a temporary increase in demand driven by UK outbound leisure passengers taking advantage of removed UK travel restrictions and redeeming travel vouchers accrued during the pandemic.
Sustainable Aviation Fuels Incentive starts delivering lower-carbon flights from Heathrow – Heathrow introduced a SAF incentive in 2022 to encourage airlines to shift to lower-carbon fuels.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said:
“I want to thank colleagues who worked very hard to ensure the start of 2022 has gone to plan, and I want to reassure passengers that we’re redoubling our efforts to ensure this summer’s journeys go safely and smoothly. These past few weeks have only reinforced our view that passengers want easy, quick and reliable journeys every time they travel and we can continue to deliver that for less than a 2% increase in ticket prices. The CAA should be aiming to secure this win for passengers instead of pushing plans which will cut investment in service, increase queues and make delays a permanent feature post-COVID. We have a lot of work to do to reclaim Heathrow’s crown as Europe’s largest airport which will deliver more competition and choice for passengers and more growth for Britain, and we need the regulator to help us do it.”
| At or for 3 months ended 31 March | 2021 | 2022 | Change (%) |
| (£m unless otherwise stated) | |||
| Revenue | 165 | 516 | 212.7 |
| Cash generated from operations | 132 | 278 | 110.6 |
| Loss before tax | (307) | (191) | (37.8) |
| Adjusted EBITDA(1) | (20) | 273 | 1,465.0 |
| Adjusted loss before tax(2) | (329) | (223) | (32.2) |
| Heathrow (SP) Limited consolidated nominal net debt(3) | 13,332 | 13,523 | 1.4 |
| Heathrow Finance plc consolidated net debt(3) | 15,440 | 15,576 | 0.9 |
| Regulatory Asset Base(4) | 17,474 | 17,675 | 1.1 |
| Passengers (million)(5) | 1.7 | 9.7 | 474.9 |
