Heathrow Closure Looks Set To Disrupt Air Freight

The closure of London Heathrow Airport on Thursday night will likely lead to the disruption of air freight operations for the next week or two.

The airport is not currently expected to reopen until at least midnight Friday March 21st, and has already led to the cancellation or diversion of over 1300 flights.

Overnight, and early this morning, airborne flights were being diverted to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Manchester mid flight, with the majority of the cargo now needing to be transported back to Heathrow.

Several airline warehouses have also been affected by the power outage. Import collections for customs cleared goods can be arranged in most cases, but deliveries to export warehouses are hit and miss, depending on whether the warehouse has power.

Heathrow is far and away the busiest UK airport for cargo, with more than 70% of shipments depending on it for flights and operations. Therefore, even after the airport reopens, air freight services are likely to be disrupted for some time while backlogs are cleared.

Croft Cargo is monitoring developments. To discuss current solutions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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