UK. Gatwick Airport retail revenue climbed by +4.6% in the year to 31 March, hitting £120.9 million, the company reported this week.
Against this, the key figure of net retail income per passenger declined marginally to £3.54, from £3.62 in the previous financial year. This reflected a greater proportion of EU passengers, said the airport, as well as a smaller retail footprint due to development work and upheaval airside amid the building of a new duty and tax free store, set to open next month. Car parking revenue rose by +5% to £54.3 million in the year.
Overall turnover rose by +8.6% year-on-year to £517.4 million, with EBITDA (before exceptional items) up by +16.9% to £221.5 million. Passenger numbers increased by +6.9% to 33.8 million.
According to the airport’s Annual Report, duty and tax free retail accounted for £40.7 million of its total retail income, up from £38.8 million in the previous financial year. Specialist stores represented £31.2 million, almost identical to the figure posted in FY 2010/11. Catering income stood at £19.0 million (up from £18.0 million in FY2010/11); foreign exchange reached £16.5 million (up from £15.0 million) and other retail £13.5 million (up from £12.7 million).
The report noted: “In duty and tax free, average spend for passengers departing to non-European Union (“non-EU”) destinations is over twice that of a passenger departing to European Union (“EU”) destinations. An increase in the proportion of passengers departing to EU destinations…has lowered the overall net retail income per passenger relative to the prior year.”
 |
Gatwick Airport Chief Executive Officer Stewart Wingate said: “This has been a successful year for Gatwick. Despite the difficult economic conditions, we have delivered a strong financial performance on the back of growing our passenger traffic by an underlying +3.0%.
“Underpinning our performance is a transformation of the passenger experience and improvement in operational efficiency for our airlines and the airport. We have been competing with Heathrow, Stansted and Luton and other European airports, and this has seen us achieve passenger growth every single month over the course of the year. We have been winning new connections to high growth economies including South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam, Hong Kong and China.
“Passengers and airlines are benefiting from new facilities and we are currently investing around £20 million per month. We expect to invest around a further £435 million over the next two years as we complete our six year £1.2 billion programme.
“The key to continuing this success will be greater flexibility to compete, which in turn will allow us to continue to innovate to meet the expectations of our passengers and drive further connectivity to key growth markets.”
 |
 |
