Budapest Airport to prepare a Cargo City near Terminal 2
When looking at the statistics in more detail, arriving and departing cargo traffic totalled 5,114 tonnes in January 2016, it was 6,487 tonnes in the same month this year. When taking only air cargo into account, this amounts to 27 per cent growth, but when road freight traffic is also included the result rises to 38 per cent. The underlying factors include the strong performance of the Hungarian processing industry and the export of high value-added goods, such as electronics, pharmaceuticals and vehicle parts.
Meanwhile, the construction of two new integrator buildings is in full swing at Budapest Airport, with the complex due to be handed over this summer. The total area of the two new logistics bases exceeds 16,000m². Integrator companies represent a significant and growing segment of cargo traffic, with several flights a day. DHL Express, for example, currently operates with two large aircraft on a daily basis – an A300-600F links Budapest with the company’s European hub in Leipzig, whilst a 737 transports goods to Hungary from Brussels – as well as several smaller, feeder aircraft.
Early summer the first new warehouse and office facility of TNT will be handed over in the area near Terminal 1 earmarked for integrator companies. This project will help the integrator to improve their service quality and also to handle parcels at a state-of-the-art facility at the airport.
Budapest Airport has also commenced preparatory works for its Cargo City, a dedicated facility planned to be constructed near Terminal 2 which will handle the flights of cargo airlines such as Cargolux, Turkish Airlines Cargo and Qatar Airways Cargo, as well as belly cargo from passenger airlines. The performance of Qatar Airways Cargo greatly contributed to the record growth in air cargo traffic in January 2017.