Budapest Airport takes the regional lead in cargo as well - VIDEO REPORT
2019. 11. 21.
The air transportation and logistics centre named Cargo City has been handed over at Ferenc Liszt International Airport. The modern air cargo handling centre welcomes the logistics partners of the airport from January 2020. With this investment, Budapest Airport has established a community space where various market players – cargo handling companies, forwarding companies, agents, airlines and authorities – can cooperate under one roof and thereby even more efficiently during everyday work.
Budapest Airport Zrt., headquartered at BUD International Airport was founded in 2001. The company is managed by the board of seven directors, the revenue generated in 2018 was close to EUR 300 million, with the employment of 587 persons on average. Under the management of Budapest Airport, the airport won the "Best airport in Eastern Europe" award of Skytrax for the sixth time in a row in 2019.
Budapest Airport planned the establishment of a modern cargo and logistics centre already in the previous decade, but, with the transformation of the global economic environment, and it was only in the recent years that a business decision could be made to build Cargo City, which doubles the cargo capacity of the airport, reaching up to 200,000 tons annually.
The opening of the completely self-financed cargo base, established with an investment of around EUR 50 million, is an important milestone not only for the airport and the logistics-forwarding industry, but also for the entire Hungarian industry and trade, since one of the most important logistics facilities of Hungary is expanded with a long-sought new infrastructural element.
Modern logistics is based on four main pillars from the perspective of infrastructure: the highway, the international airport, the seaport and the intermodal terminals. It is remarkable that, in addition to Cargo City built on the territory of Budapest Airport, a major upgrade of the road network is also underway, and an intermodal loader to link the road and railway is also ready at the airport. The airport also has an industrial track. Thereby Budapest Airport provides the currently most modern infrastructural basis for logistics sector in Hungary's.
The logistics sector plays a significant role in Hungary's economy. The gross value added generated by the sector was close to HUF 2200 billion in 2018, the total volume of goods transported exceeded 300 million tons. The potential of the sector is demonstrated by the fact that in the first half of 2019 an expansion of more than 10 percent was registered, and the number of people employed exceeded 300,000.
