Heathrow to pay first dividend in five years to new owners
London Heathrow Airport plans to pay its owners a first dividend in five years after passenger numbers reached record highs in 2024.
The West London hub has settled on a payout of £250m over the coming weeks, the first since before the pandemic.
Heathrow’s ownership underwent its most significant change in decades in 2024 after the Spanish infrastructure group Ferrovial sold off its majority stake to Ardian and the Saudi PIF. It is also part-owned by Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
News of a dividend came as the airport reported its full-year results on Wednesday.
Despite carrying a record 83.9m passengers, adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and revenue both fell 8.7 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively.
Heathrow blamed the drop on lower airport charges, which were decided by a regulatory ruling from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in 2024.
Pre-tax profit rose 30.8 per cent to £917m.
Heathrow became central to the Labour government’s growth plans in January after Rachel Reeves backed its long-delayed third runway proposals.
A planning application for the multi-billion project is expected to be submitted in the summer.
“Securing future economic growth means investing in the infrastructure that powers it,” Thomas Woldbye, Heathrow’s chief executive, said.
“Over the next decade, we will be making the largest private investment in the UK’s transport network which will modernise Heathrow and unlock new capacity for growth.
“This will grow the economy, make Heathrow better for all of our customers and give the UK a competitive world-class hub fit for the future.”