European airports report best H1 air cargo performance since 2010

European industry body, Airports Council International, said that there had been a surge in freight traffic across the continent during the first half of 2017.

An 8.7% increase in traffic was the best first half-year performance since 2010, it said, reflecting improved market conditions not only in Europe, but across the world.

There was a 11.5% rise in freight at EU airports and a 24.8% rise at non-EU gateways, according to ACI figures.

Of the major gateways, Moscow Sheremetyevo saw the biggest rise – 32.8% to 102,897 tonnes. There was also a big rise for London Gatwick (20.5% to 42,376 tonnes) and for London Heathrow, (9.1% to 823,320 tonnes).

Figures for July release by Gatwick on the same day showed a 18.4% increase in cargo for the first seven months of 2017, from 73,096 tonnes last year to 86,544 tonnes in 2017.

Istanbul Ataturk also enjoyed a 15% rise, to 485,754 tonnes, although there was a bounce back from last year's terrorist attacks to take into account (the airport was attacked on June 28 while there were several other attacks in the city earlier in the year).

Paris Orly, in contrast, suffered a 20.3% fall to 42,039 tonnes although the French capital’s main gateway had a 2.5% rise, to 965,704 tonnes.

Frankfurt, Europe's number one cargo hub, saw a 5.7% rise to just over 1.04m tonnes.