Heathrow Airport (Heathrow) celebrated a record year in 2024, welcoming 83.9 million passengers, marking a 6% annual increase. Cargo volumes also rose by 10%, boosting British exports worldwide. While further growth is expected in 2025, constrained capacity is likely to limit the scale of improvement.
Despite record passenger numbers, Heathrow’s revenue declined by 4% to £3.6 billion due to a lower airport charge set by the CAA. Adjusted EBITDA also fell to £2.0 billion. The airport remains financially resilient, with liquidity of £3.4 billion. Strong performance in 2024 enabled Heathrow’s Board to approve a £250 million dividend to shareholders, the first in five years.
Heathrow launched its refreshed sustainability strategy, ‘Connecting People and Planet’, featuring new targets following progress on previous goals. The airport’s first –‘Nature Positive Plan’ focuses on tackling climate change and biodiversity loss. A record amount of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) was used in 2024, with the airport’s 2025 incentive set at 3%, 1% higher than the UK mandate. Heathrow became the first airport globally to adopt the taskforce on nature-related financial disclosures (TNFD), pledging to disclose environmental impacts annually from 2025.
Over the next decade, Heathrow plans to undertake the largest private investment in the UK’s transport network, modernising facilities and unlocking new capacity. Projects along the path to a third runway will enhance terminal infrastructure, improve customer experience, expand sustainable transport options and bolster environmental credentials. Proposals for the third runway will be submitted to the Government this summer, with the aim of securing planning permission before the end of this Parliament. Collaboration with Ministers on airspace modernisation, planning reform and regulatory adjustments will be crucial to delivering the project. (£1.00 = US$1.27 at time of publication).
