The UK's Freight Transport Association (FTA) has thrown its weight behind Heathrow Airport as a site for a new runway in its report Sky-high value – The importance of air freight to the UK economy, published on 20 March.
Citing the fact that most of the UK's 39,000 people employed by airfreight are around Heathrow, the FTA goes on to state that the airport is a hub and critical for sectors such as pharmaceuticals, high-end manufacturing and retailers. It adds that 95 per cent of air cargo is carried in passenger aircraft belly holds and that airfreight accounts for nearly 40 per cent of UK imports and exports by value. Airport capacity is being studied by the UK government's Airports Commission, which will recommend in 2015 how the country's capacity growth needs can be met in the future. A new runway at Heathow is one option. The FTA's global and European policy director, Chris Welsh, makes his organisation's support for Heathrow