London Metropolis Airport’s homeowners have injected £130 million in new fairness to stabilise the airport’s funds amid a chronic downturn in enterprise journey.
The transfer comes because the airport struggles to get well from the pandemic, with passenger numbers nonetheless trailing pre-Covid ranges.
The contemporary capital has been offered by a consortium of Canadian pension funds — AIMCo, OMERS, and Ontario Academics’ Pension Plan — and Kuwait’s Wren Home. The funds are getting used to chop debt, pay curiosity, and strengthen money reserves, giving the airport respiration area because it prepares for refinancing talks on over £700 million of loans due in March 2026.
London Metropolis, which depends closely on company journey, has lagged behind bigger airports like Heathrow in its restoration. In 2023, London Metropolis welcomed 3.4 million passengers, down from 5.1 million in 2019. Regardless of an anticipated rise to 4 million passengers in 2024, that is nonetheless 20% under pre-pandemic ranges.
The airport’s efforts to extend passenger numbers have been additionally hampered by the federal government’s choice to dam the growth of weekend companies, regardless of elevating the annual passenger cap from 6.5 million to 9 million. Reaching this new restrict is anticipated to be difficult with out extra weekend flights.
A London Metropolis spokesperson stated: “Since the pandemic, we have seen year-on-year passenger growth, with leisure travel now representing closer to 60% of the passengers through our airport. London City is a profitable company with supportive, long-term shareholders.”
This injection of funds marks one other chapter within the airport’s possession, which has included a sale by Irish property tycoon Dermot Desmond and a subsequent £2 billion acquisition by a Canadian-led consortium in 2016.
