Heathrow cargo surge in March leads UK hub upswing

Heathrow Airport saw its March 2017 cargo volumes surge to 148,000 tonnes, a near 13% increase over the same month last year and the largest monthly growth in more than five years.
The UK’s number one airfreight hub and Europe’s fourth largest air cargo gateway saw long-haul emerging markets remain a driver of freight performance, with key markets in March including Mexico (+28%), Brazil (+13%), India (+9%) and China (+5%).
Hub owner Heathrow Airport Ltd said that it also saw “impressive growth” to Indonesia after national carrier Garuda moved  last year to Heathrow from rival hub Gatwick.
A spokesperson for Heathrow said: “China Southern confirmed it will double cargo capacity on one of Britain’s most strategic trading routes when it launches an additional service to Guangzhou in June, further boosting export opportunities for British business.”
Elsewhere in the UK, airport group MAG – whose passenger and cargo gateways include Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports – reported that all three were “experiencing significant growth” in March.
Manchester’s 14.9% growth in March to just under 10,000 tonnes was driven by “increased long haul capacity” in passenger aircraft bellyholds to Beijing, Singapore, Houston and San Francisco.
Stansted saw March cargo volumes up 10.2% to 24,250 tonnes, while East Midlands’ monthly throughputs rose 5.5% to just 30,300 tonnes.
In Germany, Munich Airport’s dynamic growth continued into the first quarter of 2017, with a year-on-year increase of approximately eight percent to more than 85,000 tonnes.
Europe’s top 2016 cargo trio of Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam-Schiphol airports have yet to post their March 2017 airfreight volumes.