Early Christmas shopping boosts U.K. November cargo figures

Christmas came early for United Kingdom airports under Manchester Airports Group (MAG), as East Midlands and London Stansted airports saw record cargo volumes in November with heavy Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping.

At London Stansted Airport (STN), November cargo volumes rose 12.3 percent year-over-year to 25,802 tonnes, while East Midlands Airport (EMA) reported a 29.8 percent y-o-y increase to 33,150 tonnes. The sharp increase at EMA was supported by both strong holiday demand, and weak 2016 numbers due to weekend runway closures during November of last year. Manchester Airport’s (MAN) November traffic fell 4.9 percent y-o-y to 10,232 tonnes.

While holiday demand for imports of electronics, clothes and beauty products played a significant role in increasing volumes to MAG airports, the addition of new routes from the airports have also served to increase cargo movements. New services include CargoLogicAir’s service from STN to Dubai and Hong Kong and the relocation of Swedish all-cargo airline West Atlantic’s U.K. operations from Coventry Airport to EMA, among others.

MAG has repeatedly called on the U.K. government to focus on air cargo as part of its strategy to strengthen the U.K. economy following the upcoming Brexit. Andy Cliffe, managing director of EMA, added, “The health of air cargo up and down the country is something the Government should be looking to promote in its aviation strategy, which needs to look at improving connectivity and trade links from all U.K. airports, not just Heathrow.”