IAG Cargo has announced that it is restarting its cargo-only services between London Heathrow -Hong Kong and has restarted its cargo-only London Heathrow-Bangkok service as consumer spending continues to accelerate.
Daily flights from London Heathrow-Hong Kong will restart on 1st June and four-times-weekly flights between London Heathrow – Bangkok restarted on 24th May.
Since the start of the pandemic, the business has completed over 250 cargo-only flights between London-Heathrow and Hong Kong.
The early cargo-only flights in April 2020 mainly carried vital PPE, such as hand sanitizer, gloves, masks, etc.
Then, three months into the pandemic the business saw a major uplift in e-commerce and as more people worked from home and upgraded their home tech set-ups, this was reflected in the consignments that were shipped.
In 2021, IAG Cargo saw a 32% increase for its Prioritise service which is popular with e-commerce customers.
IAG Cargo anticipates that e-commerce will continue to be a major growth sector for the business into 2022 and beyond.
The pandemic has turbocharged an existing trend for the online purchase of goods and services, and this has continued to grow. Additionally, pharmaceuticals, perishables, and European supermarket goods are flown into the region.
Daniel Byrne, Regional Commercial Manager UK and Ireland at IAG Cargo said: “I’m really pleased that we’ve been able to add these services, Hong Kong and Bangkok are an important part of our network with goods manufactured in the Far East popular with consumers across the world.“With summer shaping up to be a busy period for IAG Cargo and our customers, this airbridge is vital for the movement of e-commerce and perishable foodstuffs, which are in high demand throughout the year.
