London's Heathrow airport saw a 1.8% fall in cargo volumes during January to 130,700 tonnes but was not alone among UK gateways as Manchester and London Stansted also registered monthly declines, while express hub East Midlands Airport bucked the downward trend.

Heathrow’s best performing markets for cargo were Africa, with growth of 8.9%, and Latin America which saw an increase of 8.8%, largely driven by an increase in movements to Brazil.

UK airports group MAG reported a 1.6% fall to 8,100 tonnes at Manchester airport in January over the same month in 2018, while Stansted volumes fell 6.6% to 19,600 tonnes and East Midlands’ throughput rose 2.1% to 30,100 tonnes.