Member Article

SME trade to Latin America driving Heathrow cargo volume growth

Heathrow Airport has posted another record-breaking month as 5.18m passengers travelled through the airport in February, with similar gains in cargo volume.

Passenger numbers represent a 4.5% increase on the same month last year, or 1.2% once the leap year effect is taken into account and follows on the back of a similarly record-breaking January which saw 5.5m passengers pass through the airport at the start of the year.

The UK’s largest port also enjoyed a 2.7% growth in cargo volumes, with Latin America in particular seeing a 5% increase compared to the same time last year. This was underlined by a 40% jump in cargo to Mexico following the increased frequency of Aeromexico flights.

UK SMEs in particular are benefiting from the export opportunities from the added cargo routes to Latin America, and comes at a time when Heathrow is trying to emphasise the benefits to SMEs across the country of any potential third runway.

Similar gains were seen in emerging markets in Africa and further afield, with a 34% increase to Nigeria and a 32% jump in cargo volumes to Turkey.

Heathrow Chief Executive Officer John Holland-Kaye, commenting on the figures, said: “Long haul routes from Heathrow support British exporters up and down the country – with businesses trading up to 20 times more with markets where we have a daily direct flight.

“This month we’ve seen a big boost in exports to Latin America and East Asia. With an expanded Heathrow Britain can do even better. We’ll open up 40 new trading links and supercharge British trade with the fastest growing markets of the world.”

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