Birmingham Airport revenue down; profits up
06.08.11
Cost-cutting helped Birmingham Airport to post an eight-fold increase in profits last year. Birmingham Airport Holdings saw after-tax profit rise from £592,000 in 2010 to £5.28m in the 12 months to March 31 2011, despite revenue falling by 0.8 percent to £103.3 million. However, its chief executive warned its long-term health is reliant on the region’s economy, the Birmingham Mail reports.
The rise in profitability in a year hit by the continuing recession and an Icelandic volcano that saw planes grounded for days came after employee costs were reduced by more than 11 percent, from £23.4 million to £20.8 million. The number of people working at the airport was reduced by 75 in part as a result of a voluntary redundancy scheme.
Chief executive Paul Kehoe said that while short-term measures had been taken to combat a fall the passengers and revenues, the airport was at the mercy of the wider economy – particularly in the region. He said: ‘We need the economy of the West Midlands to start to recover. If the West Midlands starts to perform we will start to perform.'
Passengers fell from 9 million to 8.5 million – the third consecutive year of decline - despite a 4 percent rise in long-haul traffic. Mr Kehoe said: 'It would have been 8.7 million last year but we lost 200,000 because of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. We are budgeting for this year 8.7 million, so we are saying it is going to be flat. Is that the bottom of the curve? I hope so.’
The fall in revenue at the airport came as a 2.3 percent fall in aeronautical income more than cancelled out a 0.8 percent rise in commercial income.
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