UK airfreight fails to keep pace with passenger growth

Department for Transport statistics confirm that UK airfreight has not kept pace with the national growth in passenger numbers, in terms of both tonnage and numbers of aircraft movements
In 2011, (77%) and 2016 (78%) most freight by tonnage was in carried the bellyholds of passenger aircraft, states the latest updated UK Aviation forecasts: Moving Britain Ahead. 
Total freight carried at the UK airports in the department’s model rose from 2.9m tonnes in 2011 to 3.1m tonnes in 2016, with a growth of 4% in cargo tonnage on freighter aircraft and a 5% increase in bellyhold freight on passenger aircraft. 
Since 2011, passengers going through UK airport terminals have grown by almost 50m (23%) at the 30 modelled UK airports in the forecast.
The past five years have seen an extension of trends apparent in the previous decade, with modest growth by weight of both types of freight. 
“The decline in freighter air transport movements (ATM) numbers but relatively constant levels of freight tonnage highlight that airfreight has been increasingly carried on bigger freight aircraft,” state the report’s authors. 
The top five UK airports for the tonnage of cargo carried in freight aircraft and for freight carried bellyhold in passenger aircraft have changed “relatively little” from 2011 to 2016. 
Cargo carried on freighter aircraft is dominated by East Midlands and Stansted, which consolidated their positions, together carrying 69% of cargo tonnage in 2011 and 76% in 2016. 
Heathrow remains “the most significant airport” in terms of freight tonnage carried on passenger aircraft, with around two thirds of the UK total in both 2011 and 2016. Much of this freight is carried on long-haul aircraft, and reflects Heathrow’s strength in that market. 
“It is clear that freight continues to concentrate at a few airports where there are extensive freight handling facilities.”