Heathrow Ltd. has posted a strong rise in full year profit, largely driven by an increase in the fees it charges airlines.

Owner Ferrovial said its 2012 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 11.6 per cent to £1.26 billion on revenues of £2.46 billion.

The company added passenger traffic at London’s Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport, rose 0.9 per cent to 70 million during the year, while traffic at London Stansted fell 3.2 per cent to 17.5 million.

The British airport operator is now known as Heathrow Airport Holdings, after changing its name from BAA last year.

Heathrow Airport Holdings also operates Southampton Glasgow and Aberdeen airports.

The group last week unveiled a £3 billion five-year investment plan, which could see passengers facing a rise in ticket prices.

Colin Matthews, chief executive, Heathrow, said: “Last year was an historic year for Heathrow.

“We gave a warm welcome and a smooth journey to thousands of Olympic and Paralympic athletes, and greeted a record 70 million passengers over the twelve months.

“Our capital investment programme continued, with over a billion pounds spent on improving the airport, mainly on the new Terminal 2 which opens next year.

“We also completed our refinancing programme, successfully issuing another £3 billion of bonds to put us on a stable, long term financial footing.”