Brexit: Heathrow raises £1.6bn to prepare for possible no deal

Europe’s busiest airport building up ‘financial resilience’ in case UK crashes out of EU

Heathrow raised extra funds from global investors (PA)

Heathrow executives have raised £1.6bn from investors to help the airport “cope” in the event of a no-deal Brexit next year.

Officials at Europe’s busiest airport said the funding was necessary to build “financial resilience” ahead of the UK’s expected exit from the European Union (EU) in March 2019.

“With the outcome of Brexit negotiations unknown, strong businesses like Heathrow must stand up to support Britain’s economy,” said chief executive John Holland-Kaye.

Earlier this week, Department of Transport (DfT) officials admitted there was a risk that airlines would not be able to fly in and out of UK airspace if no agreement with the EU can be reached in the next five months.

Heathrow revealed the extra funds raised from global investors in its latest quarterly results on Friday. Around £238m was raised from a 12-year Canadian bond, and a further £96m was raised from a debut Australian dollar issue.

“This extends our liquidity horizon until the end of 2020 and ensures the airport has sufficient financial firepower to cope with a no-deal Brexit and still meet its obligations – including progressing our expansion plans,” Heathrow said in a statement.

Heathrow said it wanted the government to agree a deal that “secures continued liberal access to the European aviation market to facilitate efficient flows of both people and goods into and out of the UK”.

Lucy Chadwick, director general at the DfT, told the Public Accounts Committee that agreements on both air and rail services between Britain and the EU were “an area of growing concern to us” since talks about route access were yet to begin. “Our confidence at the moment in the programme [of readiness for Brexit] is somewhat decreasing,” Ms Chadwick said.