Budapest Airport handled 146,113 tonnes of cargo in 2018, setting a new all-time record.

According to the airport, the performance represented a 14.9% year-on-year increase.

“These latest figures are exciting as they represent three years of uninterrupted double-digit growth at the airport,” said René Droese, director of property and cargo at Budapest Airport. “We are focusing all our efforts to make good use of the ideal conditions in Budapest and turn Liszt Ferenc International Airport into a major cargo logistics hub for the Central-Eastern European region. For this, we are establishing appropriate technical, security and traffic conditions – the relevant projects entered the phase of implementation last year, and we can successfully complete them this year. As a first step we handed over a 16,000-square-metre new cargo warehouse and office capacity for our integrator partners in 2017; their traffic has been constantly developing for years.”

Work is ongoing on the new €32.6 million (US$37 million) Cargo City, a 20,000-square-metre dedicated freight centre which will expand Budapest’s total handling capacity to 250,000 tonnes per year, as well as an additional 10,000-square-metre forwarder building.

The airport is also constructing a new cargo apron measuring 32,000 square metres. This will be near Runway 2 and capable of servicing two Boeing 747-8Fs simultaneously.

“The combined value of this development effort in 2019 reaches €46 million (US$52.2 million), and is financed by Budapest Airport itself,” said Droese. “Our goal is to deliver, by the end of this year, an ideal cargo infrastructure for all segments of our well-balanced customer portfolio, for full freighters, belly cargo, integrators and road-feeder trucking too. Rising demand is illustrated by the fact that last year a number of wide body and jumbo freighters were being loaded at the airport each day, including Boeing 747s operated by Cargolux, AirBridgeCargo and Silk Way West, and Airbus A300s, A310s, A330s, used by Turkish Cargo and Qatar Airways Cargo.”

Budapest is targeting the key markets of China, South Korea, Japan, Canada and the US, regions offering growing export and import flows within the cargo catchment zone of the airport, including the automotive, electronics, pharmaceutical and e-commerce sectors.

“Our cargo team is working hard on conferences and workshops from China to the US, to present the potential of Budapest Airport Cargo in the Central and Eastern European region,” said Droese. “The cargo business has strategic importance for our airport, and we handle our cargo projects with high priority.”

Cargo volumes have increased by more than 60% from 2015 to 2018, according to Budapest Airport.