Turkish Cargo to make Budapest Airport its Eastern European hub

Image by Budapest Airport

The airport says that this will further increase the international significance of the BUD Cargo City. Turkish Cargoʼs flights operate on the Istanbul-Budapest-Istanbul route, enabling Budapest-based cargo to access the world’s largest cargo network through the airline’s hub, and to create approximately 95 additional cargo connections from Istanbul.

"We are delighted in welcoming this decision by our outstanding partner, Turkish Cargo, to establish its regional office in the Hungarian capital and to increase its cargo capacity to four a week at Budapest Airport. The cargo team at Budapest Airport is continuously working to make the BUD Cargo City the cargo gateway for Central and Eastern Europe and Hungary, for which developments by our international partners are indispensable. We wish Turkish Cargo a lot of success for the future in Budapest and the CEE countries as well," said Rolf Schnitzler, the CEO of Budapest Airport.

Turkish Airlines announced that "Having an attractive location from the viewpoint of the logistics and trading companies, Budapest (BUD) became the main hub for Turkish Cargo, with the newly established Eastern Europe Regional Directorate office here. This regional directorate office coordinates the cargo sales activities of 21 countries, based in Budapest. Additionally, along with long-standing, great cooperation with Budapest Airport, Turkish Cargo enhanced service quality and demonstrated a sustainable achievement thanks to its mission, namely, "raising the bar". Turkish Cargo expands freighter capacities at BUD in the 2020 winter season, by launching a fourth frequency, with A330 cargo Aircraft, as of November 8."

In spite of the global challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, cargo traffic at Ferenc Liszt International Airport is operating at full capacity and developing continuously. The number of dedicated cargo flights increased by 18% in 2020, compared to the same period of the previous year. BUD Cargo City handled 107,076 tons of air cargo from January to October.

While cargo traffic has stalled almost completely at some airports, the Hungarian capital airport only registered a 10,3% reduction compared to last year, and the number of cargo flights increased by 16.7% to 5,007 flights handled in 2020.