T: 020 7248 2227 E: info@airportwatch.org.uk
Air Freight
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The Problem
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UK air freight airports
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NEWS
Air freight news stories (in Latest News, Air Freight section)
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AirportWatch launches new report on air freight, and calls for a night air freight taxAirportWatch is calling for a Night Air Freight Tax. The call comes on the day
AirportWatch launches a major report on air freight. The report, "Air Freight: The Impacts" is taking place in Southend to coincide with the last day on consultation of
plans to extend the runway. Air freight pays no tax on aviation fuel. It is exempt
from VAT. And it does not pay the equivalent of Air Passenger Duty. AirportWatch
is calling for Air Passenger Duty to be replaced by a Plane Tax, and a higher
rate on planes using airports at night, when the noise causes even greater disturbance.
10.12.2009 More .....
Full report "Air Freight: the Impacts" full report (pdf)
38 pages
5 page summary "Air Freight: the Impacts" Summary
Airport-by-airport analysis Airport by Airport analysis
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UK monthly air freight figures - airport by airportincluding BAA and CAA airports data
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Info sources
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UK past figures
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Mail
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Carbon emissions
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Night flights
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Info
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IATA
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Accidents
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Civil Aviation Authority statistics 1996 - 2006
Trade press sources: |
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Air cargo was, until the recession, rising faster than passenger traffic at some
airports, and much of the development at ever expanding airport sites is cargo
related. Air freight has far higher negative environmental impacts, including
greenhouse gas emissions, than other modes of transport. Air freight often uses
older, more polluting and noisier planes, and much is transported at night. The
aviation industry hopes that, when the recession ends, the freighter fleet will
double over the next 20 years, and as larger planes are being built, this will
mean a tripling of air cargo. Air cargo rose by 30% in the UK between 1997 and
2007. East Midlands is a key UK cargo airport, with 50 flights a night and with
ambitious expansion underway this is expected to double by 2016. Other UK airports
with growing freight operations include Manchester, Kent, Bristol and Belfast.
More .....
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1 Heathrow
(massively more than any other airport - mainly belly freight)
2 East Midlands 3 Stansted 4 Gatwick 5 Manchester
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DEFRA produced some conversion factors, to estimate the carbon emissions from
air freight, and other forms of transport. There is a difference between estimates
for cargo flown in dedicated freighters, compared to cargo flown in the bellies
of passenger planes. The latter creates a difficult exercise in apprortioning
the carbon between passengers and load. More information on the DEFRA figures ....
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These were the top 12 airports for air freight. (tonnes)
Airport Name 2008 tonnes % change from
2007
HEATHROW 1397053.818 + 7%
Total of all reporting UK airports in 2008 = 2,282,153 tonnes - (2% less than
in 2007)
see also BAA airports freight data for all of 2008 - see BAA press release
Air Freight in the UK in 2007
These were the top 12 airports for air freight. (tonnes)
(CAA figures)
1 Heathrow 1,310,987 2 N'ham East Midlands 274,753 3 Stansted 203,747 4 Gatwick 171,078 5 Manchester 165,368
6 Belfast International 38,429 7 Luton 38,095
8 Prestwick 31,517 9 Kent 28,371
10 Edinburgh 19,292
11 Birmingham 13,585 12 Coventry 7,469 Total of all reporting UK airports in 2007 = 2,325,772 tonnes - (no increase
on 2006)
Air Freight in the UK in 2006
These were the top 10 airports for air freight. (tonnes)
(CAA figures)
1 Heathrow 1,263,129 2 N'ham East Midlands 272,303 3 Stansted 224,312 4 Gatwick 211,857 5 Manchester 148,957 6 Belfast International 38,417 7 Edinburgh 35,389 8 Prestwick 28,537
9 Kent 20,841
10 Luton 17,993 11 Birmingham 14,681 12 Coventry 7,785 Total of all UK reporting airports in 2006 = 2,315,445 tonnes (a 2% increase on 2005)
Freight (tonnes) in 2002 (CAA figures)
1 Heathrow 1,234,940 2 Gatwick 242,519 3 N'ham East Midlands 219,252 4 Stansted 184,449 5 Manchester 113,279 6 Prestwick 39,500 7 Kent International 32,240 8 Belfast International 29,274 9 Edinburgh 21,232 10 Luton 20,459 Total of all UK reporting airports in 2002 = 2,195,433 tonnes
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UK Air freight tonnage month by month, compared to equivalent month a year earlier (CAA figures) see link ......
See also BAA airports data, month by month. BAA release the figures for their airports, around the middle
of each month, at BAA press releases
Recent BAA monthly figures have been put together, for ease of access, at
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DfT produces analysis of the end-to-end journey of UK air freightThe DfT has published its end to end analysis for air freight in the UK. I t
is a 56 page document, containing a great deal of information about air freight
in the UK, over past decades, and projections into the future. The document focuses
mainly on Heathrow - the largest cargo airport in the UK, and East Midlands, which
has the most express courier services. The UK imports (57%) more air freight
than it exports (43%) by weight. This adds up to over 1,280,000 tonnes of imports
(1,230,000 tonnes excluding domestic air freight) and 960,000 tonnes of exports.
The primary routes for air freight in and out of the UK are the transatlantic
routes to and from the United States for both imports and exports, and also routes
bringing imports from the major Asian economies. There is a lot of detail. 12.5.2009
More .....
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IATA releases press releases each month, showing global international (not domestic)
air freight tonnages, showing FreightTonne Kilometres (FTK) and Available Tonne
Kilometres (ATK) the 6 main regions of the world, and the global total.
IATA press releases are at: http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/
Global air freight figures for all of 2009:
Freight showed a full-year decline of -10.1% compared to 2008 with an average
load factor of 49.1%.
(freight had fallen - 4% for all of 2008, compared to all of 2007)
December 2009 figures - 27th January 2010 press release
2009: Worst Demand Decline in History - Encouraging Year-end Improvements air freight tonnage up + 24.4% compared to December 2008 (which was itself -
26% on Dec 2007)
(link to the IATA Dec 2008 figures).
November 2009 figures - 30th December 2009
air freight tonnage up + 9.5% on November 2008 (which was itself down - 13.5%
on 2007)
(link to the IATA Nov 2008 figures)
October 2009 figures - 30 November press release
Two Years of Lost Growth - Slow Improvement Trend air freight tonnnage down -0.5% on Oct 2008, and down -14.9% during the year
to date
September 2009 figures - 29 October press release
Traffic: Fragile but Improving - UK APD Hike is the Wrong Response air freight tonnnage down -5.4% on Sept 2008, and down -16.4% during the year
to date
August 2009 figures - 29th September press release
air freight tonnnage down -9.6% on Aug 2008, and down -18.0% during the year
to date
July 2009 figures - 27th August press release
June 2009 figures - 30th July press release
May 2009 figures- 25 June press release:
Passenger Decline Stabilizes - Some Improvement in Freight April 2009 figures - 27 May press release:
Demand Decline slows - But No Recovery in Sight March 2009 figures - 28 April press release:
Load Factors Drop as Passenger Demand Falls - Freight Stabilises February 2009 figures - 26 March press release:
Freight Stabilizes, Passenger Drops January 2009 figures - 26 February
Economic Gloom Continues in January Traffic and older IATA press releases at http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/
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Unfortunately, being older aircraft and with less attention to safety in some
countries, there are far more accidents to frieght aircraft that to passenger
aircraft. More .....
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Copyright AirportWatch, 2004