24 February 2014
Selling Stansted for £1.5 billion, plus stronger demand for flights to Europe, China and India, helped turn Heathrow’s £33 million loss in 2012 to a £426 million profit last year.
Traffic at the London airport rose 3.4% to a record 72.3 million passengers in 2013, thanks to fuller planes and bigger aircraft: the average jet had 202.8 seats, compared with 197.4 in 2012. Yet only about 470,000 flights departed and landed at Heathrow last year — 10,000 below the maximum allowed.
Revenues rose 11.3% to £2.5 billion, driven by travellers spending more at Heathrow’s shops, and also by higher parking fees. Car parking revenues were up 11% to £91 million in 2013.
