newstodate.aero
Feb 20, 2012 (newstodate): The situation concerning air cargo at Hungary's Budapest Airport after the demise of Malev on February 3 is very unclear at the moment.
The airport is currently amidst a large project aiming at setting up a cargo city at the airport, with the first phase scheduled to open by autumn this year, with the two major ground handling companies Celebi Ground Handling and Malev having leased up to 80 percent of the 11,000 sq m warehouse space and the adjoining 5,000 sq m office space.
As a first step, a 5,000 sq m international postal exchange facility was completed for the Hungarian Post in October 2010, and the construction of the Cargo City is divided into two phases, each comprising an air cargo facility of 11,000 plus 5,00 sq m.
When fully completed, the new Cargo City will have the capacity of handling up to 2.5 mio tonnes of cargo annually - about 30 times the current volumes.
The status of this project is, however, also unclear.
-We will have to wait till the Board meeting by the end of March 2012, where the situation will be analyzed and decisions made as to these issues, says Christa Soltau, Budapest Airport Vice President of Cargo and Logistics.
-We are currently also not clear about the effect Malev's demise will have on the air cargo traffic. But as most of Malev's cargo was carried on European traffic with Boeing 737 aircraft, we do not immediately expect a major impact after the stop of Malev operations. But again, the picture will become clearer in the months to come, and we will not have a full overview till after the Board meeting, says Ms Soltau.
In 2011, the airport handled a total of 106,000 tonnes of cargo.
The airport is currently amidst a large project aiming at setting up a cargo city at the airport, with the first phase scheduled to open by autumn this year, with the two major ground handling companies Celebi Ground Handling and Malev having leased up to 80 percent of the 11,000 sq m warehouse space and the adjoining 5,000 sq m office space.
As a first step, a 5,000 sq m international postal exchange facility was completed for the Hungarian Post in October 2010, and the construction of the Cargo City is divided into two phases, each comprising an air cargo facility of 11,000 plus 5,00 sq m.
When fully completed, the new Cargo City will have the capacity of handling up to 2.5 mio tonnes of cargo annually - about 30 times the current volumes.
The status of this project is, however, also unclear.
-We will have to wait till the Board meeting by the end of March 2012, where the situation will be analyzed and decisions made as to these issues, says Christa Soltau, Budapest Airport Vice President of Cargo and Logistics.
-We are currently also not clear about the effect Malev's demise will have on the air cargo traffic. But as most of Malev's cargo was carried on European traffic with Boeing 737 aircraft, we do not immediately expect a major impact after the stop of Malev operations. But again, the picture will become clearer in the months to come, and we will not have a full overview till after the Board meeting, says Ms Soltau.
In 2011, the airport handled a total of 106,000 tonnes of cargo.