Farnborough Airport sales soar to £80m ahead of Macquarie buyout
Farnborough Airport has revealed that its revenue rose 23.2 per cent to a record £80m last year fuelled by a boost in business travel which saw nearly 4,000 more flights take off and land there than in 2017.
According to its accounts for the year ending 31 December 2018, there were 30,729 take offs and landings at the airport and each one paid more than in 2017 as landing fees rose by 3.7 per cent to £595.
It boosted pre-tax profit by 26.8 per cent to £22m, which was largely paid out to the airport’s owner, the Saudi Arabian TAG Group. TAG also owns a 14.7 per cent stake in the McLaren Formula 1 team and bought Farnborough from the Ministry of Defence in 1997.
TAG received a £15m dividend last year and got even more earlier this month when it sold the airport to Australian banking group Macquarie. Payment terms were not disclosed but filings showed the airport’s assets were worth £146m.
Farnborough is most famous for its biennial air show but it is also the UK’s only dedicated business aviation airport, largely serving London and the south east.
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