Cargo Expansion At Budapest
On April the first, after around two and a half years of negotiation, The Regulation Plan was finally approved, opening the door for major development of the cargo facilities at Budapest Airport. The plan, in fact, constitutes the approval of the surrounding community, to allow the airport to go ahead with developing the land in which in a final stage will include 120,000sqm of new cargo and logistics terminals, all accommodated in an area within the existing airport perimeter. The various expansion modules of the project will be carried out in several phases.
The first phase, a new facility for Magyar Posta (Hungarian Post), consists of an initial 5,000sqm building with a further 5,000sqm area being reserved for future expansion. This facility will be handed over to the customer in May, following which, all necessary equipment and systems will be installed, to commence operations in October 2010. 4.554 tonnes of mail were handled at the existing terminal during 2009.
Kam Jandu, Director Aviation at Budapest Airport, is delighted to have this agreement in place. This is wonderful news for the entire community as it means that we can really expand our existing cargo business at a time when the world cargo market is beginning to show positive signs again. It will also lead to greater employment opportunities locally and put us on the global Air Cargo map. We have currently around 10 cargo carriers operating regularly here, including Cargolux, and the major integrators, with a further 23 carriers which operated on ad-hoc basis in 2009. With expanded facilities, there is huge potential to grow new cargo traffic, especially from Asia and other long haul destinations. In addition to having direct access to a first class road network, bringing seven immediate neighbouring countries to within easy reach, Budapest also has access to a further 20 European markets within 1000km. When all the facilities are combined, Budapest is a very attractive and perfectly positioned, cargo friendly hub.
Budapest Airport is now cooperating with the Vecses district in harmonising the development of a cargo city which will include the Budapest Airport Cargo and Logistics terminals, with the cargo city attached to the airport premises. The area bordering the new cargo development area comprises 203 hectares, providing a great platform where forwarders and logistic companies will be able build their own facilities. During 2009, the airport had a total throughput of around 63,000 tonnes of mail, flown and trucked freight.