According to IATA data, business with Latin America (and North America) contributed to swelling cargo volumes at London’s Heathrow airport. The total broke all records for August, when Heathrow witnessed a 13%, year-on-year increase in freight handled, to reach 139,023 tonnes. In fact, cargo volumes at Heathrow have been continually higher every month this year compared to 2016.
The anomaly in all this is that the airport reports that trade with Latin America trade has grown the fastest: this posted a 30% increase, when compared to the previous August. Across the Atlantic, though, it's a different story. June for the southern continent was quite positive in terms of air freight demand but over the first half year period, the picture was less rosy. South American countries contributed just 3% of global FTKs this year, although sheer capacity is not a problem. In this respect, South America still trails other areas in the world: Brazil's economic problems remain a big factor here, although political and economic uncertainty are not confined to that country alone.
