This October, freight volume at Budapest Airport has for the first time exceeded 13,000 tons, a 22.9 percent increase over the same month in 2017. The exact figure is 13,313 tons, of which 9,205 tons was so-called “belly cargo”, i.e. cargo shipped in the holds of passenger aircraft.
In recent years passenger airlines have found the belly cargo business to be a very lucrative one, with as much as 50 percent of global air freight being transported this way.
The increase in Budapest cargo traffic was mainly due to a continued strong growth of the Hungarian economy which grew by 4.8 percent year-on-year in the third quarter, according to seasonally and working day-adjusted figures. Successful Hungarian companies are among the biggest cargo customers, with their high-value, low-weight cargo needing a fast and predictable route to world markets. Most important among these are pharmaceuticals, electronics and automotive parts.
In the first ten months of the year cargo volume at Budapest airport totalled 120,603 tons, a 16.3 percent increase over the same period last year. In view of the growing demand for cargo transport, Budapest Airport has recently begun the construction of a new logistics and warehousing base called Caro City at a cost of HUF 10 billion (US$35.4 million), capable of simultaneously handling two Boeing 747-8F cargo aircraft.
Budapest Airport has also recently opened a 16,000 square meter logistics center for parcel services TNT and DHL Express.
