{"id":213103,"date":"2025-10-20T12:23:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T12:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/213103\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T12:23:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T12:23:12","slug":"liverpool-john-lennon-airport-has-new-majority-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/213103\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool John Lennon Airport has new majority owner"},"content":{"rendered":"

It provides an exit for The Peel Group, who first took a 76% stake in the airport in 1997Dan Haygarth<\/a> Liverpool Daily Post Editor and Regeneration Reporter<\/p>\n

09:51, 20 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

\"LiverpoolLiverpool John Lennon Airport(Image: Colin Lane\/Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

Liverpool John Lennon Airport has a new majority shareholder. Independent infrastructure manager Ancala has acquired an additional 47.1% share from The Peel Group, becoming the majority shareholder in the airport in Speke<\/a> with a 94.2% holding.<\/p>\n

Liverpool City Council<\/a> retains its 5.8% interest in the airport but the transaction provides an exit for private real estate and infrastructure investment firm, The Peel Group. The firm first took a 76% stake in the airport in 1997 when Robert Hough became chairman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Since then, The Peel Group drove projects which developed the airport, including the construction of the new terminal to expand the airport\u2019s capacity. Ancala first invested in Liverpool John Lennon Airport in 2019<\/a>, as part of a joint venture with The Peel Group and Liverpool City Council.<\/p>\n

The airport\u2019s revenues have grown by 47% since the financial year ending March 31, 2019. In the financial year ending March 31, 2025, revenues reached \u00a353.9m as the airport welcomed 5.2m passengers, a 21% increase year-on-year.<\/p>\n

In August 2025, the airport recorded its busiest ever month with more than 616,000 passengers travelling through the airport.<\/p>\n

John Irving, chief executive of the airport<\/a>, said: \u201cEver since Ancala invested in 2019, its team has been highly proactive and supportive of our mission to deliver a faster, easier and friendlier experience for our customers.<\/p>\n

“With Ancala\u2019s increased commitment to the airport, I\u2019m confident we\u2019ll continue to build on our momentum as we expand airline partnerships and welcome more passengers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to thank The Peel Group for their original vision, long-term investment and dedication to Liverpool John Lennon Airport<\/a>. Their contribution over the last 28 years has been instrumental in transforming the airport into the nation\u2019s favourite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Power, partner at Ancala, added: \u201cLiverpool John Lennon Airport is one of Europe\u2019s top performing airports. Since our initial investment, we have worked closely with John, Liverpool City Council, the wider management team and our shareholders to unlock value creation opportunities which have enabled the business to provide its industry-leading services to even more customers.<\/p>\n

“We would especially like to thank The Peel Group for their continued trust in us and for our long-standing and successful business partnerships.<\/p>\n

“Ancala is proud of the strong partnership we’ve built with Liverpool City Council and we look forward to continuing our collaborative work to support the region\u2019s growth and prosperity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasing our stake reflects our continued confidence in the airport and its future potential. Through increasing our stake, we were also pleased to offer an attractive co-investment opportunity to our institutional investor base as we drive the airport\u2019s next phase of growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool City Council, said: \u201cThe longstanding and constructive relationship we\u2019ve shared with Peel and Ancala, whose commitment to the airport has driven significant investment and regeneration, has helped to establish Liverpool John Lennon Airport as one of the best in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to continuing the positive and collaborative partnership we already have with Ancala, delivering continued growth and opportunity for the airport and our city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steven Underwood, CEO of The Peel Group, added: \u201cThe Peel Group is proud of the remarkable progress and success of the airport since our initial investment in 1997. Over the years, the airport has not only seen significant growth in passenger numbers and popularity but has also become renowned for the quality of its infrastructure and the overall passenger experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Ancala\u2019s deep understanding of the airport, their passion for its continued success and a proven track record, we are confident that this new chapter supported by an exceptional management team will enable the airport to build on its strong foundations and continue its trajectory of growth and performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Peel Group remains a committed supporter and customer of the airport through our broader investments in Liverpool and the Northwest. We extend our best wishes to Ancala, Liverpool City Council and all the airport staff for continued success in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Financial details of the transaction are undisclosed.<\/p>\n

Liverpool John Lennon Airport currently ranks among the UK\u2019s most punctual airports and was voted Best UK Airport by UK consumer group Which? in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n

In support of its 2040 decarbonisation strategy, the airport is about to complete the construction of an on-site solar farm designed to generate up to 25% of the electricity consumed across the airport\u2019s community annually, a key step in reducing its scope one and two emissions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It provides an exit for The Peel Group, who first took a 76% stake in the airport in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,63767,35674,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-213103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-liverpool-john-lennon-airport","tag-speke","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}