Fareham Borough Council reports ‘huge profits’ at Daedalus airfield as rents and fuel sales boost income
A council has had an unexpected windfall from an airfield this year
A forecast £29,000 loss turned into a near-£193,000 windfall after a bumper year for a town’s airport and business hub.
Fareham Borough Council said the HMS Daedalus site finished the 2025/26 financial year £192,690 in profit. This figure is £221,995 better than the local authority expected, and almost £148,000 ahead of the previous year.
The council had budgeted for the site to cost taxpayers £29,305 over the year. Instead, income from hangars, aviation fuel, offices and business premises outweighed the cost of running it and paying for past investment.
The figures were presented in a report to members of the overview and scrutiny panel.
Cllr Lisa Birkett praised the fact that it made a “huge profit”.
Speaking at the meeting on September 2, the Conservative councillor for Titchfield said: “This is a vast profit here, one so big we underestimated it. This is very much a good news story. The fuel provided a massive income, which was unexpected.”
Before those investment-related costs were included, Daedalus made £701,295 more than it spent.
Once £508,605 was deducted for the cost of capital investment, it was still left with a £192,690 surplus.
A major boost came from the airfield side of the operation, as income was almost £185,000 higher than forecast, helped by new tenants, rent rises and extra fuel sales. Hangar and airside-estate rental income reached £539,978 – almost £29,000 above budget – after two new tenants moved in and four existing occupiers paid higher rents.
Fuel sales also brought in an extra £99,354.
Caroline Hancock, from the council’s capital and treasury management team, said: “Airside, which includes the airside estate and the hangars, income was better than we had budgeted, and that was partly driven by aviation fuel sales and increases in rental income.
“In terms of the non-airside, it generated just over a million pounds of surplus and that has helped offset the airside operating costs and capital investment. Overall, Daedalus has remained financially self-sustaining and cost neutral, and taxpayers are not adversely affected.”
Income from the non-airside area, including Faraday Business Park and Fareham Innovation Centre, was also ahead of target. Those sites made £1.013m after day-to-day running costs, around £31,000 more than expected.
The report added that most hangars, offices and other commercial space were occupied for almost the whole year.
Meanwhile, £854,383 was spent on improvements during the year, including airfield lighting, access-road work and new storage units. Much of the unspent capital budget is due to be carried over while schemes are completed.
The Daedalus site includes the airfield and aircraft hangars, alongside offices and business space at Faraday Business Park and Fareham Innovation Centre.