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Half-year revenues and passenger numbers up at Heathrow

Larger and fuller aircraft using Heathrow have helped the airport record increasing revenues during the first half of this year.

The number of passengers using the west London hub was up 2.5% to 38.1 million in the period while revenues grew 2.3% to £1.4 billion.

Although the airport is operating at near-full capacity it has managed to increase passenger movements due to larger aircraft using the hub and with higher load factors of 76.9%.

Income from retail rose by 5% to £206 million and bars, restaurants and café revenue was up by 11.5%. Income from car parking was 7% higher at £62 million.

Income from the Heathrow Express rail connection with London Paddington fell by £2 million to £61 million.

Higher costs of handling more passengers and increased investment in security saw pre-tax profits reduce from £102 million in the first half of 2017 to £95 million this year.

Outlay on wages rose nearly 2% to £183 million, while operational and maintenance costs were up by nearly 9% to £223 million.

European short-haul and UK domestic passenger numbers grew by 2.6% and intercontinental traffic rose by 2.5%.

Long-haul growth was driven by traditionally underserved routes to Africa and Latin America, the former seeing a 100,000 rise in passenger numbers and the latter a 6% or 700,000 increase.

MoreSpecial Report: Heathrow costs questioned

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