The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s direct and indirect revenues from airport operations in 2021 marked an improvement from the year before, but still have plenty of catching up to do to reach pre-pandemic levels.
Total operating revenues from the authority’s Aviation Enterprise Fund in 2021 stood at $562.1 million, up 16 percent from $483.8 million in 2020, according to the authority’s newly-released Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.
The total figures represent two sides of airport operations:
• Revenue from airlines, which includes rents, landing fees and levies on a per-passenger basis, totaled $256.6 million, down from $265.5 million a year before.
• Revenue from non-airline sources, such as retail outlets and rental-car agencies, totaled $305.5 million in 2021, up from $218.3 million in 2020.
Not surprisingly, figures from both years were down considerably from the pre-COVID year of 2019, when airline revenues totaled $326.8 million and total Aviation Enterprise Fund revenue stood at $766.5 million.
The fund had a net income (profit) of $102.04 million in 2019, which became a net loss of $118.99 million in 2020. That figure was cut to a loss of $50.37 million for 2021.