Budapest Airport’s Cargo City is set for another significant expansion following the dynamic cargo development at the Hungarian gateway since the infrastructure opened in January 2020.
Increasing the airport’s annual cargo capacity to 300,000 tonnes, the latest progression will be a noteworthy step in ascertaining Budapest’s place in the global air cargo market.
Confirming works with Merkbau – a Hungarian construction company – the warehouse area of BUD Cargo City will be extended by an additional 6,500m² with a further 2,000m² of office space on the mezzanine level. 6,000m² manoeuvring and storage areas will also be added to the building, alongside a 1,450m² multi-functional canopy area created for live animal treatment.
The expansion will allow Budapest to handle 240,000 tonnes at the Cargo City with an additional 60,000 tonnes being served via the integrator facilities of DHL, UPS, and FedEx at Terminal 1.
“Budapest Airport is committed to cargo development,” explains René Droese, Chief Development Officer, Budapest Airport.“Seeing the rapid increase of our cargo volumes after the initial investment of the BUD Cargo City, this next step has been an obvious choice to enable our growth and progression. “We see more and more interest for our cargo services and capacity enhancements from the market, so we have to ensure we are more than capable of meeting these demands.”
With works set to begin on the latest project this month, the ongoing transformation of the airport’s cargo apron to include four Code F stands has already begun and is due to be in operation by the end of S23.
While also actively expanding the cargo handling facilities to include an additional 6,500m² warehouse with offices and supporting amenities, the airport’s air cargo evolution shows no sign of slowing down.
“We have handled 195,000 tonnes in the last 12 months and continue to record a 40% increase from our pre-Covid levels,” adds Droese. “We are currently handling both integrator flights and non-integrator freighters with long-standing partners Cargolux, Qatar Airways Cargo, and Turkish Cargo. “More recently Korean Air and China Eastern/Shanghai Airlines have joined us, alongside regular cargo charters with our partners cargo-partner, Kuehne+Nagel, UTA/CECZ, and the new cargo operations of Wizz Air. “We are positive this robust growth will continue.”
József Knáb, Business Director, Merkbau says: “We were invited to this project following a previous 2019 project, Cargo City Handling Building as this work is ongoing. “It is a great pleasure and honour that we were allowed to participate in the implementation of this beautiful task in these economically tough times.“By the end of next year, we need to obtain an occupancy permit for this design and build project.”
