Annual turnover and passenger numbers rise at Birmingham Airport
Turnover for Birmingham Airport recovered in its last financial year when it was still severely affected by restrictions from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The airport also saw a recovery in passenger numbers in the 12 months to the end of March helped by the lifting of Covid-19 UK travel restrictions towards the end of the year.
Numbers carried were 3,673,356 – up 274.6 per cent on 2020-2021 but about 70 per cent down on 2019-2020.
Turnover grew from £24 million to £67.5m, with the airport's pre-tax loss improving from £67.8m to £10.7m.
Aeronautical income improved from £7.6m to £20.8m and concession income from £6.2m to £25m.
Wages and salaries were down from £16.3m to £15.4m with the average monthly number of people employed at airport rising from 379 to 415.
The airport is "cautiously optimistic" about the ongoing recovery of the aviation sector but is not sure whether the aviation market will fully recover to pre-pandemic levels
"Our cautious optimism reflects a strong post-Covid bounce-back, including new airlines, new routes and the recovery of a reliable service for customers," a spokesman said.
Looking at 2022-2023 the airport warns there are factors that could limit the pace of recovery, including Covid restrictions being reinstated, the general economic environment and increasing air fares.
As a result of actions taken by management to manage operating costs in a sustainable manner, the airport is in a good position to continue its recovery as consumer demand for travel fully returns, it says.
The airport had seen growth of 51.1 per cent in passenger numbers from 2010-2011 until the pandemic.
Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Coventry city councils and Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall borough councils are shareholders in the airport's parent company, Birmingham Airport Holdings.
