Proportion of freight using LHR

[lepidus]

In the Telegraph on 11 February 2009, Sir Nigel Rudd of BAA states "...56% of the UK's air freight travels on non freight aircraft out of LHR". His main point in his article was that there is not enough capacity at LHR ie extra runway needed.

I am surprised that this is the case as I would have thought that freight would/could/ought to be using specialist facilities at airports other than LHR. I am also surprised that the proportion on "passanger" planes is so high. Are there separate "freight" airports and if not, why not ?

This is my first post on PPrune - be gentle with me!!

Lepidus

[CR2]

Welcome to PPRuNe, we're quite civilised here on Freight Dogs... mainly :}

[Black Knat]

Hi Lepidus,

Fair question, deserves a fair answer! The major freight companies do have their 'own' airports where they set up their hubs (ie/ in Europe FedEx use Paris,UPS use Cologne,DHL use Leipzig, TNT use Leige etc) but other major airports such as Heathrow will still feature heavily because that is where much of the international traffic comes in with 'belly' freight. There is no big deal using passenger flights for most freight provided it is not classed as dangerous goods. In practice most of the major freight companies use their own specilised aircraft. The general public have little idea how big the air freight industry is but I think it is fair to say that freight is where the big money is for business. To give you an idea, use the internet to look at a company such as FedEx, both the fleet size/types and the financial size of the company. It makes BA look like a small flying club in comparison (no offence to my friends in BA!). The freight industry doesn't require the 'in your face' marketing that passenger airlines need to fill seats, hence out of the public spotlight and (generally) understanding. Hope this helps towards answering your question. Best regards, BK.

[AircraftOperations]

Apart from the passenger airports in the UK such as LHR, which handle large amounts of belly freight, they also have a smattering of dedicated freighter services as well (Asian carriers spring to mind.)

Due, I believe, to space/slot constraints, many other "large" freighter services use less crowded UK airports and then truck to London if required. e.g. Stansted (BA World Cargo 747s), Manston, Manchester, Prestwick etc.

East Midlands, Luton and Stansted can be considered as the major UK hubs for nightfreight services operated by the big integrators - linking up with European hubs, European destinations and some USA hubs with their MD-11s, A300s, 767s, 757s, 737s, 146s etc etc.

[lepidus]

Thanks for your comprehensive answer BK - very interesting.

As a follow on, if (say) a 747 had a 90% passanger load, allowing for their luggage, approx what weight of freight could be included in the plane as "belly freight" ?

Lepidus

[CargoMatatu]

Ah, now that opens up a very wide area of discussion!

It would all depend on the ditance flown and the coresponding fuel load.

As far as payload alone goes, a full load of passengers in such a widebody, together with their luggage, would come to something in the region of 45 tons. The maximum payload of a B747-400 is in the region of 125 tons.

But if the leg is a long a high fuel load would be required thus restricting your payload available. Plus, of course, bearing in mind that you would be using the bellies alone for the freight (except combi aircraft), structural limitations would apply.

As you can see, not a simple question to answer as there are too many variables involved.

Wish I could help you more without rewriting complete manuals! ;)

[CR2]

Airport/handling charges also play a role. Why fly a freighter into LHR and pay LHR prices if you can go to STN and pay STN prices...

[RevMan2]

As a follow on, if (say) a 747 had a 90% passanger load, allowing for their luggage, approx what weight of freight could be included in the plane as "belly freight" ?

LH Cargo's website is worth a look.

At the bottom of this page (http://lhcargo.com/content.jsp?path=0,1,19142,91655,48825), you can download a pdf with all containers and LH Group aircraft types with payload/container mix etc.

747-400 has a belly payload of 14000k, averaged over the network, 747-200F operating out of FRA was weight limited as from NYC (unconstrained total payload 101.1t) dropping to 93.7t for ORD, 88.4t for ATL and 73-ish for MIA (fuel stop in BGR helped out there. Even better - YYT, direct on the track)