Gatwick: Profits take off but airport warns on air traffic control issues in UK and France
Gatwick Airport said pre-tax profits had jumped to £100.2m this morning, up 65 per cent year-on-year amid soaring demand for travel, but warned it had been hit by air traffic control issues across Europe.
The UK’s second biggest airport welcomed 18.5m passengers in the six months to July, up 41 per cent year-on-year and helping turnover rise by nearly half to £423m.
Much of that came from its aeronautical segment, which reported revenues of £212.7m, while retail, parking and other non-aeronautical sources accounted for £210.6m.
Underlying earnings rose 59 per cent on 2022 to £235.7m.
Traffic flying out of the airport was still shy of pre-pandemic levels though, at 86 per cent, with the airport warning that traffic control (ATC) restrictions in Europe – such as from French ATC industrial action – had affected performance and service.
It comes as a network-wide failure of Britains’ ATC system continues to cause mass disruption this week, with thousands of cancellations and passengers left stranded.
Speaking to Morning Wire this afternoon, Gatwick’s chief executive officer Stewart Wingate said airlines had informed him displaced passengers “may not get back to the UK until the weekend” but insisted the hub had made a “rapid recovery.”
Aside from the events of this week, air traffic control disruption has been a feature across Europe this summer, with repeat walk-outs from French ATC staff hitting a slew of airlines and restricting airspace.
Wingate told Morning Wire the French strikes were particularly damaging to the airport “because of our location and our routines into Europe… we wouldn’t see that level of disruption across France in normal years.”
He added that he was working “directly with Eurocontrol” to encourage a lessening of flight restrictions from Gatwick to Europe.
Despite the chaotic summer, Gatwick’s post-pandemic recovery has turned up a notch over the past year on the back of stronger demand, with the group swinging into profit for the first time last March – since it posted losses of upwards of £830m between 2020 and 2021.
Wingate remained bullish for the year ahead and expects October to be the “highest month” of passenger traffic since the pandemic, reaching 97 per cent.
The plan is estimated to create 14,000 new jobs and pump £1bn into the region’s economy but many other hubs’ plots are currently facing hurdles, including Heathrow and London City.
“It’ll be the biggest thing for the future of the airport, the regional economy and getting above pre pandemic levels, not only on volume of passengers, but also putting additional resilience into the operation here at Gatwick,” he told Morning Wire
That resilience would be a welcome relief for passengers who have been hit by this week’s chaos.