BELFAST International Airport has revealed an uplift in profits, turnover and passenger numbers during 2018, during which it was bought over by French infrastructure giant Vinci.
Latest accounts filed at Companies House show the airport made an operating profit just shy of £7.5 million for the year ending December 31, a slight jump on the previous year's figure of £7.3 million.
Turnover also increased by more than 10 per cent from £41 million to £45.6 million.
The improved financials reflect increased passenger volumes, with 6.3 million passengers being served at the airport last year compared to 5.8m in 2017.
This came despite capital expenditure during the trading year being slashed from £2.6 million to just over £1m.
However, this is likely to increase going forward, with Vinci head Nicolas Notebaert revealing to the Irish News in a recent interview that "money will be no object" in growing the Aldergrove facility and attracting new routes.
Indeed since the Vinci take-over the airport has already invested more than £3 million in various services, including alleviating security pinch points in the wake of complaints in early summer, and a £2 million spend on new state-of-the-art fire engines.
A strategic report accompanying the results warns, however, of a potential Brexit fall-out at the business.
The directors say it is "too early to tell" how the company will ultimately be impacted by the UK's departure from the EU.
But they warn: "Change is likely - and key issues affecting us will be in areas such as regulation, airline operator business, investment strategies going forward and any changes in passenger behaviour."
This has already manifested itself in the current trading year, with Ryanair scaling back on the routes it operates from Belfast International, while the collapse of Thomas Cook will impact heavily on the number of charter flights.
Indeed latest figures from the CAA reveal that passenger numbers were down 1 per cent in June and 7 per cent in July, at a time when the airport was suffering from security issues which caused long queues, although between January and May the monthly numbers were up in some cases by double-digit percentages.
The accounts also show that staff numbers rose over the year to 212, made up of 152 in operations/security, 37 in administration and 23 in engineering.
That pushed the airport's wages will from £9.9m to more than £11.1m.
Its directors were paid a total of £896,000, with the highest paid of them (managing director Graham Keddie) taking £321,000.
Accounting to the accounts, the airport's gross pension scheme deficit in 2018 more than tripled from £1.6m to £4.9m.
