Leading European airports are reporting total cargo throughput growth figures for 2007 in the low to middle single digit range.
The region’s largest air cargo gateway, Frankfurt, said that its final traffic figure for the year was almost 2.1 million tonnes, about two per cent higher than 2006 and a new annual record.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol saw a 5.5 per cent growth in annual cargo throughput last year reaching more than 1.6 million tonnes. For 2008, the Dutch gateway is projecting annual growth of approximately four per cent.
The UK’s largest airport, BAA-owned London Heathrow, achieved an almost four per cent increase in cargo in 2007, compared with the previous year, reaching just over 1.3 million tonnes. However, the other two major London area cargo gateways owned by BAA, Gatwick and Stansted, both experienced a decline last year – the former was down a full 19 per cent to 171,000 tonnes and the latter by just under 9.5 per cent to 207,000 tonnes.
As a result, BAA’s three London airports together suffered a decline of almost 1 per cent in cargo throughput last year to just short of 1.7 million tonnes.
Paris-Vatry International airport meanwhile, saw total tonnage remain flat at 37,700 tonnes – made up of 37,270 tonnes of flown airfreight and 430 tonnes of trucked airfreight, the latter generated by shipments of Beaujolais.