Heathrow and Gatwick announce record cargo results in October

London’s Heathrow airport had a “landmark” October for cargo, handling more than 150,000 tonnes in a month for the first time since records began.

October’s 154,492 tonnes registered a year-on-year rise of 9.2% at the UK’s number one cargo hub and its 15th consecutive record monthly throughput.

The same month also saw Europe’s fourth-busiest for airfreight gateway launch a Blueprint for Sustainable Freight which proposes 10 steps to address the impact and number of freight vehicles around the airport while continuing to increase cargo volumes.

Heathrow airport chief executive John Holland-Kaye said: “Record passenger and cargo figures underline Heathrow’s position as a critical national asset. We remain on track to expand Heathrow in a way that is affordable, financeable and which meets all our environmental obligations, securing Britain’s place as one of the world’s great trading nations in the early years of Brexit.”

London Gatwick also reported its busiest ever October, as cargo rose by 32.1% over the same month of 2016, to reach 10,316 tonnes on the back of increased long-haul flights.

With 22 new far-flung destinations having been added in the last 12 months (including Cape Town, Kigali, Singapore, Hong Kong, Chicago, Austin, Denver and Seattle), Gatwick chief executive Stewart Wingate said: “October’s soaring cargo growth is the latest by-product of Gatwick’s ever increasing long-haul network”.