Overview of financial year 2020/21
CEO, Martin Rolfe said:
“Managing the impact of Covid-19 and the uncertainty it created was the defining theme of the last financial year and continues to be our focus, together with supporting our staff and delivering a safe service.
The volume of flights we handled in the year fell by 73% from the year before. This significantly impacted our liquidity and our price control is now being redetermined by the CAA. We responded quickly and effectively to restrictions caused by the pandemic, particularly in operational areas, to maintain a resilient operation, support our customers, secure our long-term finances and reduce our cost base. We have also retained the essential skills required to ensure that we are well placed to deliver a safe and resilient service as the industry recovers.”
In spite of the challenges we faced, we continued to demonstrate our capability by delivering a new digital tower service to London City Airport and secured a new 10-year contract from Gatwick Airport from October 2022. “
“This is also an opportunity to build back better and we recognise we play an important role in delivering a more sustainable future alongside the industry. This must be accompanied by a new price control that provides the right level of resources to deliver the operational service, technology change and airspace modernisation to meet stakeholder priorities.”
Chairman, Dr Paul Golby said:
“There continues to be great uncertainty in any return to normal levels of air travel. Through the pandemic we have made significant economies but retained the skills and capacity necessary to ensure that we are able to safely support the recovery of aviation. The form of any recovery remains unclear and may be subject to considerable volatility. We remain prepared for a variety of outcomes.
The company and Board responded quickly at the onset of the pandemic to ensure that our staff were protected while maintaining a safe and resilient air traffic control service. We took decisive action to preserve liquidity by significantly reducing our cost base and, suspending all but essential capital investment. In June 2021 we secured £1.6bn from new unsecured bonds and bank facilities which enabled us to replace the funding arrangements in place since 2003.
“These actions ensure that the company is well placed to mitigate the impact of any further restrictions in air travel in the event of a resurgence in the pandemic and also bridge the shortfall in this year’s income and allow us to resume our essential investment programme. However, it is also essential that we continue our disciplined approach to costs and liquidity as we focus on future business sustainability, for the company and the wider aviation industry.”