The Guardian - Kalyeena Makortoff
Airport reports annual losses halved in 2022 and is optimistic demand for travel will grow further this year
While Britain’s busiest airport continued to make losses throughout 2022, it said a near-trebling of passenger numbers helped halve adjusted losses to £684m from £1.3bn a year earlier.
About 62 million passengers passed through its gates last year, following the reopening of borders after two years of disruption during the Covid outbreak. Heathrow expects that figure to rise to 67.2m for 2023, thanks to stronger demand for travel and despite the cost of living pressures facing households. It has already reported the busiest start to the year since before the pandemic, with more than 5.4 million passengers using the airport in January.
But forecasts for 2023 mean it would only be hitting 83% of 2019 passenger levels, a further sign it may be some time before travel fully recovers from the effects of national lockdowns.
