Britain's Heathrow Airport said it expected to see 85 million passengers this year, representing growth of 0.6% as it heads into a key year for its £33 billion bid to expand.
Heathrow, the busiest hub in Europe, was given the green light to build a new runway by finance minister Rachel Reeves last year, starting a years-long planning process, with politicians due to vote on the issue later in 2026.
The airport, owned by owned by France's Ardian, the Qatar Investment Authority, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and others, said today that for expansion to go ahead, the framework to incentivise private investment needed to be in place.
The owners received dividends totalling £550m during the financial year.
This year's outlook compares to the 84.5 million passengers who used the airport last year, pushing up revenues to £3.6 billion on adjusted core earnings (EBITDA) which came in flat at £2 billion.
Its pre-tax profits of £575m for 2025 were down 37.3% from £917m in 2024.
Heathrow said its board decided to pay dividends to shareholders totalling £550m during the last financial year
Located west of London, Heathrow is Europe's busiest airport and operates at close to full capacity. Its two runways compare with four each in Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt Airport, and six at Amsterdam's Schiphol.
Flights from Heathrow's new runway are targeted for 2035, with planning consent required by 2029.
"Last year everyone at Heathrow rallied behind our ambition to deliver exceptional operational performance for our customers", Thomas Woldbye, the chief executive of Heathrow, said.
"Not only did we meet that goal, we surpassed it and achieved record-breaking service levels," he said.
"With strong foundations in place and with the airport now operating very close to capacity, the next chapter is crucial to our success," the CEO stated.
"Expansion will unlock significant economic benefits and create an extraordinary airport, fit for the future," he added.
Additional reporting by PA
