Emirates services Hungary’s automotive sector

Emirates SkyCargo has strengthened its operations in central Europe with the launch of cargo services to Budapest, the capital of Hungary.
Emirates’ daily passenger flight to the city is operated with a wide-body Airbus A330-200 and offers 168 tonnes of cargo capacity per week.
The first flight into Budapest  featured consolidated cargo from the Far East and points in India, including a shipment of pharmaceuticals from Hyderabad.
Robert Siegel, Emirates vice president, cargo commercial, Europe and Russia, said: “Budapest has an excellent geographic location and is a gateway to other central and eastern European logistics centres.
“The launch of a daily flight will give us an expanded footprint in central Europe, and will complement our cargo services into Warsaw, Prague and Vienna. Trucking services can also feed offline markets in the region through Budapest, and onto our flight to Dubai, for further distribution across our network.”
The UAE-based global passenger and freighter aircraft carrier said that the Budapest link offers “a world of new trading opportunities for businesses in Hungary and across our network, especially the automotive industry which accounts for about 18 per cent of total exports from the country”.
The UAE is also Hungary’s largest Arab trading partner with annual trade between the two countries at around US$1.2bn,” Siegel added.
Top exports out of Hungary are machinery spare parts, hi-tech equipment and electronics and spare parts for land vehicles – which comprise about 70 per cent of the exports.
The remaining 30 per cent are divided among industrial consumables, such as manufactured pipes, semi-manufactured steel and water/air pumps, food and beverage, generators and chemical products.
Imports are dominated by semi-conductors, telecommunication devices and components and audio and video products, making up more than 70 per cent of the import market.