Air cargo volume through Budapest Airport is up by no less than 11.3% since the beginning of the year. The majority was transported by cargo carriers but belly cargo volumes grew just as strongly.
Budapest has handled an average 6770 tonnes of air cargo every month so far in 2016, and while the capital city’s turnover is increasing dynamically, the rest of Europe has not seen such development. Cargo growth of only 2.7% was recorded on the continent in May, while volumes fell in North America and Africa.
The 11.3% growth at Liszt Ferenc Airport from January is unparalleled just about anywhere; among major international hubs, Hong Kong reported -1.1%, Frankfurt -1.7% and Beijing -5.1%.
A large contributing factor for Budapest was the re-launch of Qatar Cargo in March. The carrier’s Airbus A330F can carry up to 60 tonnes of goods to Doha on a single flight, and onward to almost any point on the globe via the network of Qatar Airways. Additionally, cargo airlines such as Luxembourg-based Cargolux and Turkish Cargo, which have been operating in Budapest for a long time, continued to put in a strong performance.
József Kossuth, Cargo Development Manager, Budapest Airport, said: “Long-haul passenger flights contributed significantly to the volume uplift too, for example the Beijing flight of Air China or the Toronto flight operated by Air Canada Rouge.
“It is also an indication of the performance of the Hungarian economy that on the Air China flight to Beijing almost the full cargo compartment is booked, which means 10-12 tonnes per flight. According to our forecasts, all conditions are pointing towards Budapest evolving into the air cargo hub of Eastern Europe within a short time.”
Based on traffic forecasts – as part of the HF 50 billion development program BUD 2020 – Budapest Airport has begun construction of a new logistics base right next to Terminal 1 for one of the major European parcel services. The value of the project is almost HUF 3 billion.
In addition, Budapest is preparing for the construction of a new air cargo base – the so-called Cargo City – near Terminal 2 where warehouse and office capacity for handling up to 200,000 tonnes a year will be implemented in the next few years.
