Budapest Airport processed a record 72,161 tons of cargo from January to July 2017, up 19.6 percent on the same period last year.

The Hungarian capital recorded 49,420 tons of air cargo, up 16.7 percent, and 22,741 tons of trucked cargo, up 26.5 percent compared to last year.

July figures grew 16 percent to 10,729 tons, including 7,432 tons of airfreight, up 15.5 percent on July 2016, and 3,297 tons of trucked freight, up 17.2 percent.

“Budapest has a balanced market share, with inbound cargo at 47 percent in the first half of the year, and outbound cargo at 53 percent,” said Jozsef Kossuth, the Budapest Airport cargo manager. “The high export volumes are testament to the continued industrial development of the Central European region.

“All segments of our community, including freighters, belly cargo, and integrators enjoyed volume increase in this period compared to 2016, which was already a record cargo year at Budapest Airport,” Kossuth added.

North America, Central America, and Asia were the largest markets for Budapest Airport, each accounting for 45 percent of total volumes, with the remaining ten percent coming from the Middle East, South America, and Africa.

The Central European hub grew thanks to new cargo flows from long-haul passenger routes, from operators including Emirates and Air China, in addition to volume increase from freighter partners, including Qatar Airways Cargo, Cargolux, and Turkish Cargo.

“Budapest Airport benefits from an extensive road network to 20 European Union and non-EU countries within trucking distance of our airport,” said René Droese, Property and Cargo Director, Budapest Airport. “Together with the airline development team at Budapest, we have leveraged a strong belly cargo network, with Air Canada having already commenced seasonal flights to Budapest, and American Airlines scheduled to launch a daily service from Philadelphia to Budapest in the summer of 2018.”

The Polish flag carrier LOT Polish Airlines will also launch six direct flights per week from Budapest to New York and Chicago in May 2018, Droese noted.

Budapest Airport is transforming its cargo facilities, as part of the BUD:2020 Development Program, which will include two state-of-the-art express facilities, and a dedicated freight center called Cargo City.

DHL Express is the latest to launch at the warehouse and office complexes, which have automated sorting systems, and represent the largest air cargo development at Budapest Airport to date, with a total land area development of just over 60,000 square meters.

“DHL Express has already been present in Hungary for more than 25 years,” said Zoltán Bándli, Managing Director, DHL Express Hungary. “The new lease agreement between Budapest Airport and DHL Express for another 15 years clearly reflects the commitment of Deutsche Post DHL Group to Hungary and the airport.”

The 65,000 square-foot warehouse capacity will give DHL space to accommodate volume growth, with the new sorting technology including fully automatic shipment processing that can process more than 6,000 pieces per hour.

More than 600 employees will be based at the two new express complexes, which are located in the area next to Terminal 1.

The next freight phase of the BUD:2020 Development Program will be the development of Cargo City next to Terminal 2, due to be completed in 2019.

The new facilities will provide centralized cargo operations, and expand the Hungarian hub’s cargo handling capacity to 250,000 tons per year.