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Frankfurt and Heathrow airports see October cargo volumes slide

IN October Europe's leading cargo airports measured in volume terms last year, Frankfurt in Germany, and London-Heathrow in fourth place, both saw cargo throughput decrease.

Frankfurt's cargo volume contracted by 1.5 per cent in October compared to the same month a year earlier to 185,222 tonnes, marking the eighth straight month of year on year declines. Year to date, Frankfurt's cargo traffic has shrunk by 2.5 per cent to 1.7 million tonnes, reported Air Cargo News.

Heathrow's October throughput was down 1.4 per cent year on year to 132,575 tonnes, the sixth consecutive month of falling cargo volumes. From January to October, volumes at the UK's top cargo gateway were flat at 1.2 million tonnes, representing an increase of just 0.1 per cent compared to the same period in 2014.

In a statement, Heathrow said that cargo volumes to emerging markets rose by 3.4 per cent over the past 12 months - "notably to Turkey up 26 per cent and Brazil up seven per cent - underlining the export growth potential an expanded Heathrow with up to 40 new long-haul connections would deliver."

Heathrow has been pushing the government for permission to build a third runway.