Gatwick airport has revealed half-year profits fell by nearly a fifth as fewer passengers passed through its terminals due to the Iran war hit to international travel.
The West Sussex airport reported pre-tax profits of £136.5 million for the six months to June 30, down 18% from £166.2 million a year ago.
It said 19.1 million passengers travelled through the airport’s two terminals over the first half, down 4.7% compared with a year earlier.
Long-haul passengers suffered the steepest decline, down 9.2% due to the Middle East conflict, while short-haul passengers fell 3.9%.
The group – the UK’s second busiest airport and one of the busiest single-runway airports in the world – said passenger demand was impacted by concerns over jet fuel supplies amid the war, but stressed there had been no shortages so far.
Travellers are also booking closer to departure because of uncertainty caused by the conflict, it added, with some low-cost airlines cutting their flight programmes in response to the tougher trading conditions.
The results come after a Court of Appeal ruling at the start of August paved the way for development of Gatwick’s second runway.
The court dismissed a bid by campaigners to challenge a High Court ruling in June that the scheme could proceed.
The £2.2 billion expansion, approved by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander in September last year, will see the airport move its emergency runway 12 metres north to accommodate around 100,000 more flights a year.
Pierre Hugues-Schmit, chief executive of London Gatwick, said: “Despite a challenging geopolitical and economic backdrop, London Gatwick has continued to perform well.”
“We are also excited about our longer-term growth opportunities and with the legal process for the Northern Runway Programme now complete, we can turn our focus from planning to detailed design work and delivery,” he added.
The group’s half-year results showed operating profits lifted 5% to £197.2 million as revenues rose 4.8% to £515.2 million.
It said operating costs lifted 5% to £318 million, with staff expenses making up more than a third of this, up 7.4% at £7.5 million.
Gatwick revealed it cut its security workforce earlier this year after launching a voluntary redundancy programme in December, which finished in February and resulted in the full-time workforce reducing by 3.1%, or 82 people, year-on-year to 2,572 at the end of June.
The group said seven airlines joined Gatwick in the first half of the year, including Jet2, Air France, Condor and Eurowings, with another two carriers – Air Zimbabwe and Air Arabia – launched so far in the second half.
Results for the firm also revealed revenues from car parking rose 1.9% to £68.6 million in the first half.
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