Levels of air freight have grown at one of the biggest airports in the North of England, according to the latest figures released by Manchester Airport. With over 100,000 tonnes of freight shipped by air, the 2015-16 year has been the best year for the airport since 2011-12.
Ken O\’Toole, chief executive of the airport, said that it played an important role in connecting the North of England to some of the world’s key markets: \”Many of our long-haul routes are not available from any airport outside of London and these figures demonstrate how these services do not just offer more choice for leisure passengers, they deliver direct trade benefits to the region,” he said.
The airport already has strong links with the Middle East and Asia, and it’s looking to grow its range of long haul destinations to include Beijing and key US states in coming months, according to Insider Media.
Echoing Manchester Airport’s success, the International Air Transport Association released results for April 2016, which showed that the demand for air freight had grown 3.2 per cent year on year. Growth in Europe was particularly high, sitting at 6.8 per cent year on year.
However, while these levels of growth are encouraging, world trade is still considered ‘weak’ at present, with the first quarter of 2016 seeing the first annual decline in world trade since the economic crash in 2009. Air freight growth still certainly sits behind the more robust growth on the passenger side of the airport business.