BAA, the airports operator, said cargo through its seven United Kingdom hubs grew in July, the first increase in two years and further confirmation that global air trade is recovering from its post-Sept. 11 slouch.
Freight shipments rose 2.6 percent to 146,494 tons in July, the first increase since August 2000, driven largely by a 6 percent surge in traffic to 107,057 tons at London Heathrow, the world's busiest airport, which has been hard-hit by the global economic slow down and the terrorist attacks on the United States.
The long-awaited recovery left BAA's cargo traffic in the first four months of the fiscal year narrowly down by 0.3 percent at 568,362 tons compared to a decline of 8.5 percent in the past 12 months.
Heathrow traffic is still off 1.9 percent through the first four months of the fiscal year but it is expected to grow during the remainder of the year. Traffic through London Stansted, BAA's main freighter hub, increased only 0.6 percent in July to 15,297 tons but was up 8.1 percent in the first four months at 61,500 tons.
