Heathrow Airport saw a boost to its cargo figures last month, particularly to emerging markets in the Far East and Asia.

As the airport celebrated its 70th birthday, it welcomed 6.2 million passengers last month. Although these figures are slightly down on last year, this was because of a later half term break for schools and an earlier May bank holiday.

So far in 2016, passenger growth at Heathrow is up by 1% on last year driven by quieter and bigger aircraft.

In the emerging markets, East Asia grew by 2.5%, Mexico grew by 3.7% and China saw the biggest increase of 7.5%.

These increases were partly due to the introduction of more services from British Airways to Kuala Lumpur, as well as new services being introduced by Garuda Indonesia after its move from Gatwick Airport.

Overall, cargo volumes went up by 1.5%, with Europe growing by 9.6% and East Asia seeing a growth of 8.7%.

The growth in East Asia was driven by Vietnam (up 76%), JAL (up 60%) and Air China (up 40%).

In addition to its 70th birthday celebrations, May also saw Heathrow launch its ‘election style’ manifesto, which pledges to ensure the security of a lasting legacy of economic growth, connectivity and jobs for future generations through expansion.

John Holland-Kaye, CEO at Heathrow Airport, said that Heathrow has been Britain’s largest port for the last 70 years and has played a crucial role in ensuring that Britain has thrived as an island trading nation.

He added that the expansion of Heathrow will result in 40 new direct connections all around the world and will mean the exportation of more goods to more markets for the next number of generations.

Mr Holland-Kaye also commented that in order to ensure the UK’s long-term economic future, Heathrow will have a huge role to play in terms of exportation.