Heathrow has revealed annual profits fell by more than a third, but it paid out dividends to shareholders for the first time in five years despite the earnings drop.
Owners of the airport reported pretax profits of £575 million for 2025, down 37.3 per cent from £917 million in 2024.
Heathrow’s board decided to pay dividends to shareholders totalling £550 million during the last financial year.
The airport’s owners largely consist of overseas investors, led by private equity giant Ardian and the sovereign wealth funds of Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Thomas Woldbye, chief executive of Heathrow, told the Press Association that the airport’s investors have been “patient”.
He said: “Healthy companies should pay a return to the shareholders. That’s how we attract investment into the company.
“I think shareholders have been quite patient not having any dividends or any returns for the past five years.
“With a solid cash flow for two years in a row, we decided that this year was a prudent time to do it.”
Heathrow saw a 0.7 per cent rise in annual passengers travelling through its terminals to a record 84.5 million.
Revenues increased by 1.8 per cent to £3.62 billion and underlying earnings were flat at £2.03 billion.
Heathrow said the financial benefit of higher passenger numbers last year was offset by a number of factors.
These include lower airport charges set by regulator the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), increased costs to maintain its “ageing” infrastructure and expenditure needed to support operational performance.
Mr Woldbye said the airport wants the development of its plans to build a third runway “to go faster simply because we think this is needed”.
He went on: “We are reaching the top of our capacity, which is unsatisfactory, and I think is a threat to the country in terms of economic growth and servicing our passengers.”
This summer, the Department for Transport is expected to publish the draft Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), which will provide the framework for making decisions on airport growth.
That is also when the CAA is scheduled to decide on a long-term model for airport charges, which is a key factor for whether Heathrow will invest in a third runway.
Parliament will be asked to decide on the final ANPS in the autumn.
Heathrow said it made investments totalling £1.3 billion last year, which were “targeted in areas that matter most to passengers and airlines”.
This included completing the roll out of next generation scanners which enable passengers to keep liquids and laptops in their bags when they pass through security.
The airport said this has “transformed the security experience” by “reducing queuing and improving resilience”.
Heathrow is planning to invest the same amount this year, which will include starting work to revamp Terminal 4, making progress with designing a new baggage system for Terminal 2, and improvements to services for passengers with accessibility needs. – PA
