Airports operated by Manchester Airports Group all registered double-digit cargo growth in May helped by new long haul links.

Manchester Airport saw the highest growth, up 12.9 per cent to 10,541 tonnes, followed by London Stansted Airport by 10.9 per cent to 22,700 tonnes, and East Midlands Airport grew 10.6 per cent to 29,777 tonnes.

East Midlands benefitted from express growth from the likes of DHL, TNT and UPS, Stansted was helped by Cargolux launching two new weekly freighters to China and strong performances from other operators, and Manchester’s growth mainly came from the rapidly expanding long haul passenger network providing more bellyhold capacity.

Stansted Airport chief executive officer, Andrew Cowan says: “As we head into the main summer period we expect this trend to be maintained with the number of flights already scheduled by our airline partners across the peak months up by around 10% over last summer.”