Heathrow's March passenger and cargo volumes soar
Global trade at Heathrow rose substantially in March, with volumes rising nearly 13% to 148,000 metric tonnes the largest monthly growth in over five years.
Heathrow handles over 30% of non-EU exports and more cargo by value than all other UK airports combined.
Long-haul emerging markets remain a driver of cargo performance, with key markets in March including Mexico (+28%), Brazil (+13%), India (+9%) and China (+5%) as well as impressive growth to Indonesia (up over 9,000%) after Garuda Indonesia moved to Heathrow from Gatwick last year.
Also, Flybe’s new services to Scotland proved popular with passengers, as domestic traffic at Heathrow jumped 4.4% in March. The Flybe flights improve passenger choice on key Scottish routes and follow Heathrow’s reduction in domestic passenger charges by a third earlier this year.
Adjusting for different Easter timings, overall passenger volumes were up nearly 5% in March with a record 6.16m passengers travelling through the UK’s hub, driven by growth to East Asia (+8%), Latin America (+7%) and the Middle East (+6%) in addition to strong domestic volumes.
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.
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said: “Surging trade, more domestic connections and more long-haul growth are the bedrock of the UK’s economy. Today’s figures put Britain in a strong position as the Government begins Brexit negotiations.
“We’ll double our domestic connections and add up to 40 new long-haul trading links.”