That is to stave of bankruptcy. Another £23m is being loaned next year with another year of no dividend. How they know one year in advance what passenger numbers will be is a mystery.
The council set up LLAL to be the collector of rents and concession fees with no expenditure. By next year their debt will be closer to £500m than £400m when it is the concessionaire that is meant to be the investor and not the council/ LLAL