THE UK's leading airports, apart from Manchester, recorded strong cargo volume growth in February, with London Heathrow's
freight up five per cent year on year - a record high for the 19th
straight month - at 133,140 tonnes on the back of growth in North
American and East Asian markets.
Commenting on the results, chief executive John Holland-Kaye said:
"Figures show that Heathrow is filling up fast - if we don't act soon to
expand our nation's global gateway, the UK will fall further behind our
European rivals. A prosperous, global-trading Britain needs an expanded
Heathrow now."
Indeed, six of Britain's key trade routes that account for one-fifth of
cargo volumes at Heathrow, are already full - including Shanghai, Tokyo
Haneda, Delhi, Mumbai, Los Angeles and Dubai, London's Air Cargo News
reported.
London Stansted posted year-on-year growth of 2.1 per cent in freight
volumes for February, with 19,477 tonnes moving through the airport. CEO
Ken O'Toole highlighted the addition of new services to Dubai, the US
and Canada in the coming months.
source:http://www.schednet.com/home/index.asp?area=news
In the run-up to Mother's Day in the UK some 1,000 tonnes of flowers were flown into Stansted from key growing regions in Africa and South America.
Cargo manager Conan Busby at airport operator Manchester Airport Group (MAG) said: "In March, Stansted will handle just over half of all UK fresh flowers coming into this country from outside the EU."
Another of MAG's airports, East Midlands, registered a 9.2 per cent
increase in air freight in February to reach 26,782 tonnes. Manchester's
throughput, however, declined 5.2 per cent year on year to 7,643
tonnes.
At London Gatwick cargo volumes were up 37.2 per cent in February to 8,183 tonnes due an
uptick in long-haul flights. The airport confirmed that Qatar Airways
would add double-daily flights to Doha in May.
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