newstodate.aero

Jun 26, 2020 (newstodate): For Lithuania's Kaunas Airport, 2020 has been a surprisingly good year for cargo.
   In the first five months of this yer, the airport has handled a total of 2,326 tonnes of cargo, an increase by 76 percent over the preceding year.
   And growth in volumes in April even reached 248 percent, y-o-y, to 956 tonnes, while May 2020 was still up 188 percent, y-o-y, to 797 tonnes.
   As from June, volumes will probably slow down on growth as the frenetic spike in cargo volumes have been due primarily to imports of PEE from China, now coming to an end.
   A key driver behind the significant growth in cargo at Kaunas Airport has been the Lithuanian forwarding and transport company Hoptrans that set up a scheduled all-cargo service from Beijing and Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport to Kaunas, by April 2020 operating six weekly flights chartering converted passenger aircraft from various Russian and East European airlines.
   The airport is now entering the final phase of its expansion project, started in autumn 2019, that will comprise expansion of the apron area, construction of a new 325 m taxiway  and other pertinent infrastructure required by the MRO facilities including new maintenance hangars.
   With completion by June 2020 of the projects, the airport will be in a position to grant the necessary land and infrastructure for three new MRO hangars.   
   Lithuania's Kaunas Airport will thus bolster its role as a major aviation services hub with the opening of a multi-bay dedicated 12,000 sq m aircraft paint shop in 2020 by the Irish company MAAS Aviation ranking as the world's third-largest in its business.
   The coming new paint facility will be designed for paint jobs on aircraft up to the size of Airbus A321 and Boeing 737 aircraft.
   Kaunas Airport is already home for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services providers including Ryanair, FL Technics, and DOT.