[1]<\/a>That is more than a quarter of all UK trade by value, reinforcing Heathrow\u2019s important position as the UK\u2019s largest port by value.<\/p>\nIn total, more than 1.59 million tonnes of cargo passed through Heathrow across these trade flows – roughly the same weight as around 265,000 elephants or more than 130,000 London double-decker buses.<\/p>\n
The data highlights Heathrow\u2019s critical role in the UK economy. Heathrow\u2019s network allows the rapid movement of high-value, time-sensitive goods into the UK, with around \u00a3166 billion of goods arriving at the airport in 2025. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Every day, the cargo passing through Heathrow becomes part of everyday life across the UK. Mangoes harvested in India can arrive fresh on UK supermarket shelves, flown in via Heathrow. Temperature-sensitive medicines and vaccines arrive from pharmaceutical hubs in Europe and North America and are transported to hospitals and pharmacies across the country. High-value electronics such as smartphones and semiconductors travel in the belly hold of passenger aircraft from Asia before reaching UK retailers and manufacturers, while luxury fashion flown in from cities like Milan and Paris are delivered to flagship stores on Bond Street within hours of arrival.<\/p>\n
Heathrow\u2019s connectivity to hundreds of destinations across dozens of countries supports British businesses to export their goods across the world. Around \u00a3127 billion worth of goods were exported from the airport in 2025. This includes goods that require the speed of air travel to stay fresh for customers, such as those from the award-winning gourmet popcorn producer Joe & Seph\u2019s, who use Heathrow as a key gateway to export their fresh products quickly and reliably to overseas retailers and distributors, and Yorkshire-based Cartwright and Butler, who exported more than 6,500 of their luxury bakery products through Heathrow in 2025.<\/p>\n
As the UK\u2019s only hub airport, Heathrow has a unique role in supporting global trade. More than 90% of the airport\u2019s trade by value is with non-EU countries, highlighting its importance in linking British businesses with key international markets. Government data also shows Heathrow dominates the UK\u2019s air cargo sector, with around 75% of all UK air cargo by value moving through the airport. But Heathrow is operating at capacity. To keep UK businesses competitive and enable them to unlock more opportunities to share their products with the world, Heathrow expansion is crucial.<\/p>\n
James Golding, Head of Cargo and Airline Partnerships at Heathrow, said: \u201cThis data shows how vital the airport is to exporters, manufacturers and supply chains across the country. From life-saving medicines coming into the country to exporting fresh British produce such as popcorn and biscuits, Heathrow, working in partnership with our cargo community, enables the swift movement of goods around the world. Heathrow expansion will ensure the UK has the capacity it needs to continue to grow trade links, support jobs and supply chains, and remain competitive in the global economy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam Sopher, Co-Founder and CEO of Joe & Seph\u2019s, said: \u201cHeathrow\u2019s network helps us bring our award-winning popcorn to customers around the world. The airport\u2019s international connectivity makes it possible for us to deliver our products quickly and reliably to markets like Singapore and Hong Kong, supporting the growth of our international business.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heathrow handled almost \u00a3300 billion of trade throughout 2025, more than a quarter of all UK trade by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4586,4588,4585,4587,5,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-9329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"tag-dam","9":"tag-heathrow","10":"tag-mediacentre","11":"tag-pressarea","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116368433638952651","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9329"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9329\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}