AER Lingus sold the lease of its air cargo terminal at Heathrow Airport for £6 million sterling (€9.58 million) it has emerged. The lease was bought by John Menzies Transport, a division of John Menzies plc, the British based distributor of newspapers and magazines.

Aer Lingus has awarded Menzies a 10-year contract to handle its Heathrow cargo. Together with its other customers which include Austiran Airways and Olympic Airways, the terminal currently handles some 14,000 tonnes of cargo per annum. However, Menzies said this could be expanded to 30,000 tonnes. Menzies chief executive Mr David Mackay, said the deal makes Menzies Transport the largest independent air cargo handler.

An Aer Lingus spokesman said the 50 employees at the terminal had transferred to Swissport, the company which has taken over Aer Lingus's ground handling operations at Heathrow.