Profits fall for Birmingham Airport

Newly-filed accounts for Birmingham Airport Holdings for the year to the end of March revealed pre-tax profit down from £38.1 million in 2016-2017 to £34.4m. After tax they fell from £29.3m to £26.4m.

Turnover for the airport was up from £145.8m to £155.4m and passenger numbers coming through the terminal were up 8.2 per cent to 12.8 million. Scheduled passengers rose 8.6 per cent and chart numbers by 6.1 per cent.

It was the first year numbers had topped 12m and was the seventh consecutive year of passenger growth. August 2017 was the busiest ever month for the airport with 1.49m.

The second half of the airport's year saw figures hit by Monarch – the third largest carrier at Birmingham – going in to administration in October last year with the loss of all flights.

Long haul flights from the airport also had a challenging year with American Airlines stopping services, but the low-cost sector rose 11.4 per cent helped by a full year of operations by Jet2 and Ryanair and Eurowings adding flights.

In his report Tim Clarke, who became chairman in July last year, said 2018-2019 was set to be another challenging year with the focus on recovering lost traffic.

The business is also committed to further development of the airport.

The airport is 49 per cent owned by the West Midlands borough and city councils which received £16m in dividends for 2017-2018.

Staff costs for the airport rose from £28.9m to £32,3m, including £27.1m for wages and salaries.

Commercial income for 2017-208 was up 7.4per cent driven by higher income from car parking.

There was £18.5m spent on capital projects in the year including upgrading the baggage system and North Pier security entrance and opening a new premium and free drop off car parks.

The number of staff accidents was up from 58 to 89 - a rise of 53.4 per cent, but passenger accidents were flat at 77.