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Cargo News

Heathrow Sees More Growth in February 2017

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London’s Heathrow airport is currently going from strength to strength. The UK’s primary air transit hub racked up considerable air cargo expansion rates during 2016, while new figures indicate that freight volumes continued to grow early this year.

There has been good growth at Heathrow.

2016 growth

Heathrow is the world’s primary air gateway to the vibrant British economy. It is becoming a crucial transit point for global air cargo transport, as the onset of e-commerce is facilitating a greater need to get goods across borders quickly and efficiently. This has allowed Heathrow to regularly record monthly air cargo expansion rates of around 5%, which it did in December 2016.

The airport’s fortunes rose to new heights in 2016. It added new services to Jakarta, San Jose, Santiago and Inverness, making it easier for air cargo carriers to fly goods all over the world than ever before. Data shows that Heathrow’s air freight rates climbed by 3%, year-on-year, in 2016.  This expansion outpaced passenger growth at the airport last year, as the number of passengers who travelled through Heathrow saw an uptick of around 1% within the same 12 months.

Continued progress 

This growth pushed Heathrow’s air cargo volumes past the 1.5 million tonne mark in 2016. Heathrow’s freight capacity sits at around 1.5 million tonnes, meaning that demand for the airport’s services is fast outstripping supply. According to Air Cargo Week, an industry portal, Heathrow’s freight volumes only keep expanding, with the airport registering a 4% rate of growth in February of this year.

This progress can be attributed to the rising role of emerging markets at Heathrow. The hub saw air cargo volumes go up by 10% on services to Brazil, by 5% on services to India and by 4.2% on services China, while the North American and Middle Eastern markets saw increases of 7% and 8%. In the first two months of 2017, therefore, 251,212 tonnes of air cargo were handled at Heathrow airport.

Flying start

Commenting on these extremely positive figures, Heathrow’s Chief Executive Officer, John Holland Kaye, said: “Heathrow is off to a flying start in 2017 – we’re delivering the best service of any major airport in Europe to record numbers of passengers and boosting British exports with record cargo volumes.” Speaking about how Heathrow will progress in future, he continued:

“Our new sustainability leadership strategy will make Heathrow a centre of excellence for sustainable aviation and planning for expansion is firmly underway with SMEs across Britain lining up to help us deliver it.” Heathrow recently announced plans to make its proposed third runway carbon neutral, to minimise air and noise pollution. The runway could increase its air cargo capacity to 3 million tonnes.

New opportunities

Explaining the significance of this news to the global air cargo industry, Ignazio Coraci commented. “Heathrow is racking up incredible air freight growth volumes right now, bringing a constant stream of new business for carriers. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that Heathrow is reaching capacity, limiting opportunities for our sector. A third runway would address this issue, giving Heathrow the ability to bring new opportunities to the global air cargo sector, so we can all grow together in future.”

 

Cargo News

Heathrow’s Freight Expansion Outpaces Passengers

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London’s Heathrow airport is one of the world’s busiest air cargo hubs. It faces little risk of losing this position, as new figures show that Heathrow saw such strong air cargo growth in 2016, that the rate of this expansion outpaced the rise in passenger numbers it experienced during the same period.

The expansion has been overwhelming

Massive hub

The UK’s capital is an economic powerhouse. London is one of the planet’s leading financial markets for global businesses. It is also developing lucrative technology sector, with its financial technology industry doing particularly well. According to We Are Top 10, a technology resource, London’s gross domestic product (GDP) is currently US$731.2bn, making it the world’s fifth wealthiest city.

A significant amount of London’s GDP comes from exports, which currently stands at roughly £92bn per year. London depends on its logistics sector, to transport goods to consumers overseas and capitalise on its export potential. Heathrow is London’s biggest airport, making it the lynchpin of its logistics landscape and it is growing fast. In December 2016, Heathrow’s air freight volumes increased by 5%, despite the fact that this is traditionally a slow month, reflecting rising industry confidence.

Rising volumes

Industry confidence in Heathrow’s air cargo prospects seems to be founded. Sector portal Air Cargo News reports that across 2016, Heathrow experienced a 3% climb in air freight volumes. This means that 1.54m tonnes were flown out of Heathrow across last year. This was attributed to its new services to Inverness, Santiago, San Jose and Jakarta, as well as to the £674m in investment it saw in 2016.

On the back of this progress, Heathrow’s earnings vaulted from £2.7bn in 2015, to £2.8n last year. What was interesting, was that Heathrow’s passenger volumes ticked up by 1% across 2016, meaning that a record 75.7m people walked its halls throughout last year. From this, we see that Heathrow’s growth in air cargo business actually outpaced its rise in passenger visits in the past 12 months.

Heathrow milestone

Speaking on these figures Heathrow’s Chief Executive called 2016 “a milestone for Heathrow.” He added that Whitehall’s decisions to finally announce its support for the long-proposed third Heathrow runway and unveil a four-month public consultation on a National Policy Statement has boosted the airport’s fortunes. Going on, he noted: “I am very proud of what our 76,000 colleagues have achieved. We helped British businesses across the country trade more with the rest of the world.”

Adding commentary Ignazio Coraci, the CEO of ASC Cargo, which runs freight and ground handling services for airlines at Heathrow, said: “We have seen more firms fly goods from and into Heathrow than ever in 2016, as the rising e-commerce sector makes it easier for consumers to order goods directly worldwide. We are proud to provide the cargo handling services, such as warehousing and direct transport airside, that players need to make the most of this thriving global commerce hub.”