As the cargo industry continues to grow, American Airlines Cargo also continues to set new records. On the first week of March 2017, its London Heathrow (LHR) team broke its fourth daily record since August of 2016. On 3 March 2017, the team moved nearly 1.1 million pounds (489,849 kgs.) of freight into and out of LHR, a new record for a single day’s throughput.

American transported an impressive 600,000-plus pounds (276,672 kgs.) of cargo from the UK to the U.S., while imports into Heathrow weighed in at almost 475,000 pounds (214,991 kgs.). During the record-breaking day, shipments included temperature-sensitive commodities like fresh salmon, vegetables and pharmaceuticals, as well as some heavy metal industrial forgings. Coming into LHR, the team handled various shipments from the U.S. and other far-off locations, including lettuce and asparagus, and oil and gas equipment destined for Aberdeen and the North Sea oil fields.

All of the airline’s major hubs served from the UK had consistently high outbound load factors that contributed to this record, with particularly strong demand for services to Charlotte (CLT), Philadelphia (PHL), New York (JFK) and Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)—American’s home base.

“We have a really well-oiled machine here at Heathrow when it comes to managing these increasingly large throughput days,” states Paul Griffin, manager, Cargo Operations – UK and Ireland. “We have more than 150 team members across two facilities who handle these volumes and provide consistently high levels of service to our customers. And with further enhancements now under way to both buildings, including enhancements to our ambient storage offerings, we are strongly positioned to handle even more growth in the future.”