London Heathrow Airport has urged the UK government to think again about a potentially “punitive” increase in business rates.
The UK’s busiest airport said that it faced “an eye-watering” rise in the tax if current plans for a 300 per cent increase go ahead, which could negatively impact private investment in airport expansion.
Heathrow is urging UK chancellor Rachel Reeves to “address” this planned increase during her budget on 26 November when a final decision on business rates for airports is expected to be announced.
Another major airport, London Gatwick, has already warned that higher business rates could threaten its plans to bring a second runway into full-time use, which have already been approved by the government.
“The Treasury is urged to use the upcoming budget to address the Valuation Office Agency’s punitive revaluation in business rates for airports,” said Heathrow in a statement.
“Heathrow faces an eye-watering multiple-fold increase. Left unchecked, these would drive unacceptable costs for airlines and could deter private investors who are ready to help UK aviation to grow and improve services, with billions in UK supply chain spend at stake.”
The airport also revealed that it was this week responding to the government’s request for more information about its £49 billion expansion plan, including the addition of a controversial third runway.
Meanwhile Heathrow announced that it had catered for 7.37 million passengers in October – up by 2.1 per cent compared with October 2024 and a new record high for the month.
Traffic was boosted by a “bumper” half-term school holiday period with a “surge” in passengers to European cities, such as Brussels, Lyon, Marseille and Vienna.
For the first 10 months of 2025, Heathrow’s traffic rose by 0.5 per cent year-on-year to 70.6 million passengers as it closes in on another record-breaking year despite its current capacity constraints.