The BUD Air Cargo Day 2022, with the theme of ‘Linking the cargo world’, took place in Budapest Airport’s Terminal 1 on 15 September. Attended by more than 140 delegates, the event featured a packed agenda covering the challenges, opportunities, development plans, and outlook for the future across the global logistics and air cargo market. Despite the challenging global environment for the logistics and air cargo industry, participants of the event agreed that Budapest Airport and its cargo partners have long term stable development opportunities.
However, over the continuation of their intense cargo development work it is key to be flexible, co-operative and to have a customer-oriented mind-set for the future in the interest of the “cargo-success”.
In addition to the keynotes and panel discussions, the day included the BUD Cargo Awards Ceremony 2021 and a Hungarian Government cargo aircraft visit on the T1 Apron, concluding with a cocktail reception featuring a special ‘Cargo Bar’.
Chris Dinsdale, CEO Budapest Airport, opened the event by highlighting the “excellent infrastructure, outstanding cargo connectivity and cohesive community” that have contributed to 2.3 million tonnes of cargo passing through BUD since opening 70 years ago. He said: “Three years ago we opened BUD Cargo City, investing €50 million with the goal of becoming the leading cargo hub in the Central and Eastern European region. “We have been working hard to achieve this with the entire cargo community in Hungary and are delivering record volumes now.”
Éva Kállai, Deputy State Secretary for Transport Strategy, Ministry of Technology and Industry, followed with a welcome address emphasising the importance of BUD Cargo City for transporting goods between Europe and Asia along the ‘Air Silk Road’. “The Ministry is an important partner to facilitate the continued growth of air cargo in Hungary and the Director General of Civil Aviation supports the development of new air cargo lines,” said Kállai.
The conference featured a keynote from Steven Polmans, Chairman, The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA), as well as special presentations by Brendan Sullivan, Global Head of Cargo, International Air Transport Association (IATA); Rob Veltman, Vice President Cargo Europe, Qatar Airways Cargo; József Kossuth, Head of Cargo, Budapest Airport; and Árpád Demény, Managing Director, Aeroplex.
József Kossuth, Head of Cargo, Budapest Airport, said: “We are currently handling 195,000 tonnes of cargo per annum, with volumes between January and August 2022 at +47% above pre-COVID 2019 levels. “We have a strong commitment to cargo development and excellent cooperation with our cargo community – that is one of our core strengths. “Ongoing actions include expansion of our cargo apron and the planned expansion of handling facilities by Q4 2023, with a new cloud-based cargo community system to go live by Q3 2023.”
He added: “We would like to thank all of our sponsors and partners, and the over 140 delegates in attendance, for making the BUD Air Cargo Day 2022 such a resounding success.”
There was also a series of interactive panel discussions, which provided an ideal forum to discuss important topics including:
- Recent challenges and trends of the global logistics and air cargo market, outlook for the future
- Reaction of air cargo service providers to the actual challenges, development plans
- Trends, outlooks and opportunities of e-commerce for the air cargo industry and its cargo service demand
- Challenges, changes, trends of the MRO business
The broad range of high-level panellists represented organisations including: TIACA, IATA, Cargolux, LOT Polish Airlines, Menzies Aviation, Celebi Aviation Holding, Kuehne+Nagel, Airmax Cargo, R-BAG Group, Universal Translink Airline, DHL Express Hungary, cargo-partner, ViaEurope, and Lufthansa Technik Budapest.
BUD Cargo Awards 2021 winners
- Best Developing Regular Freighter Operator 2021: Qatar Airways Cargo
- Best Developing Integrator 2021: DHL Express
- Best Developing Cargo Charter Operator 2021: cargo-partner
- Best New Cargo Charter Operator 2021: HEPA (Hungarian Export Promotion Agency) / Wizz Air
- GSA of the Year 2021: R-BAG Group
- E-commerce Service Provider of the Year 2021: CECZ / UTA / GHIBLI
- Best Developing Belly Cargo Airline 2021: Emirates SkyCargo
- Cargo Community Award 2021: Ferenc Kovács
- Navigátorvilág Special Award 2021: Rene Droese, Chief Development Officer, Budapest Airport
