Expansion at Heathrow Airport will provide more cargo handling capacity to enable growth of airfreight volumes, stresses a UK government document.
The UK Department for Transport has published a proposed draft revision to the Airports National Policy Statement (NPS), known as the Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement, the framework within which the planning decision on expansion at the airport is being made.
“Since 2010 Heathrow has consistently handled more than 1.5m tonnes of cargo annually, aside from years where the Covid-19 pandemic had a significant economic impact.
“While it has maintained this level, it has struggled to grow its cargo volumes despite robust demand for cargo in the South East of the UK, in part due to lack of cargo capacity at the site.
“Expansion at Heathrow therefore provides an opportunity to address constraints limiting the ability to grow and increase freight volumes further and to strengthen Heathrow’s role in connecting UK businesses to international markets.”
A new runway will be a key part of Heathrow’s expansion. In November, the government announced that it had decided to back the Heathrow Northwest Runway scheme by Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL).
The plans include a 3.5 km runway and building a tunnel under the development through which the M25 motorway will run.
This scheme “offered the most credible and deliverable option and would be the scheme to inform the Airports NPS review,” said the Heathrow Expansion National Policy Statement.
In January this year, Logistics UK welcomed Heathrow’s approval of funding to begin work on a planning application for the third runway.
Funding the planning application is an important initial step in securing planning approval by its 2029 target.
Heathrow moved 1.5m tonnes in 2025, up 0.8% year on year, as UK cargo surged 29.7% and North America rose 4.6%.
As well as HAL’s scheme for a new runway, the airport is also using a participatory stakeholder approach as it continues to redevelop its ‘Horseshoe’ cargo area and supports the rollout of the CCS-UK AIS (Advance Information System) portal for booking and monitoring trucks.
