Airfreight cargo returns to normal

ALAN PEAT WHILE THE initial days of the red alert on UK-US flights saw flight cancellations and delays and a bit of an air cargo backlog at London’s Heathrow airport, the problem rapidly faded, and SA airfreight suffered little consequence of the security alert. According to Colin Baldwin at Swissport, which handles both British Airways World Cargo and Virgin Atlantic at Johannesburg International Airport (JIA), there was a minimal effect. “In terms of cargo handling,” he told FTW, “we are continuing as usual, although it was fortunate that the incident occurred during the off-peak month of August.” The only embargo, he added, had been on consignments of personal effects and household goods – but other cargo has been running smoothly. A spokesman for SAA Cargo confirmed that everything quickly got back to normal. “As far as cargo is concerned, we have no problems,” FTW was told.