Vienna announces expansion of air cargo facilities

Vienna Airport has announced plans to expand its air cargo facilities by one third as demand continues to improve.
The Austrian airport said the project would expand its Air Cargo Center by 15,000 sq m at a cost of around €16m.
At present around 800 tonnes of freight are handled by the airport each day. The airport saw cargo demand increase by 4.3% year on year over the first 11 months of 2016 to 260,873 tonnes, including trucking.
In 2015, air cargo alone at Vienna was down by 0.8% to 196,274 tonnes, with trucking down by 4.4% to 76,300 tonnes.
Günther Ofner, member of the management board of the airport operating company Flughafen Wien, said: “The expansion of our Air Cargo Center should further improve our currently good market position as a transhipment point for air cargo.
“For example, half of the export production value of Lower Austrian industry of €8bn is transported from Vienna Airport throughout the world via air cargo.
“These investments are designed to generate further growth potential at the airport site and for the Austrian economy, but above all to create new jobs in the logistics sector.”   
About one-half of the air cargo comes to Vienna Airport on scheduled passenger flights, with the remainder transported on freighters.
The airport said it seed considerable future growth potential for air cargo over the coming years.
The expanded facility will also feature one of Austria’s largest solar panelled roofs.