Construction of Budapest Airport’s Cargo City, part of the €160 million BUD:2020 Development Programme has begun.
The €32.6 million investment into a 20,000 square metre cargo handling facility and dedicated Boeing 747-8 Freighter stands will centralise cargo operations and expand the airport’s handling capacity to cope with increasing demand.
As part of the BUD:2020 Development Programme, Budapest Airport opened two state-of-the-art express facilities in 2017 with a total area of 16,000 square metres supplying increasing volumes from the express and e-commerce business.
Budapest Airport executive director property and cargo, Rene Droese says: “This is an exciting milestone for the Hungarian cargo community. Following on from our infrastructure developments for the integrator market, our aim is to provide the ideal environment for air cargo with our Cargo City project.”
He adds that following AirBridgeCargo Airlines and Silk Way West Airlines starting services this year joining Cargolux, Qatar Airways Cargo and Turkish Cargo, Budapest now has five freighter operators.
Droese adds: “The cargo connectivity of Budapest is also continuously expanding via the new belly cargo services of LOT, American Airlines, and Qatar Airways, as well as Emirates, Air China, and Air Canada Rouge.”
Budapest Airport chief executive officer, Jost Lammers says: “Air cargo is of strategic importance to Budapest, and Cargo City will ensure that we continue to provide our growing customer base with efficient, modern facilities, so that they can thrive in our booming catchment area.”
This summer, Budapest welcomed Kuehne + Nagel to its cargo community and saw four new North American routes launched, with flights to New York, Chicago and Philadelphia in the US, and Toronto, Canada.
