Swissport continues cargo expansion with new Vienna facility
19 / 05 / 2022
Source: Swissport
Swissport has continued its “aggressive” expansion in air cargo with the opening of a new 8,000 sq m facility near Vienna Airport.
The handler said the new facility, its second at the Austrian airport, would allow it to resolve local constraints and provide air carriers and forwarders in Vienna with “additional capacity and more flexibility”.
The new facility is located in DLH SkyLog Park in Fischamend in the immediate vicinity of Vienna Airport and is connected to Swissport’s existing on-airport facility through the use of a dedicated electric truck.
“Swissport continues to aggressively grow its air cargo business to participate in strong global demand for air cargo logistics and to capture additional market share,” the company said.
Dirk Goovaerts, Swissport’s global cargo chair, said: “We have invested in this state-of-the-art 8,000 sq m air cargo center to support our growth ambitions in forwarder handling, and of course to serve existing and new airline customers with an even better product.
“We are very excited to more than double our capacity in Vienna and now have the infrastructure in place to support our vertical integration plans.”
The building features a 900,000-kWh photovoltaic system that produces enough electricity to match the consumption of about 260 households.
Meanwhile, the electric truck is the first of its kind for the handler.
Source: Swissport
In 2021, Swissport handled around 70,000 tons of air cargo at Vienna Airport. Swissport also operates a 3,500 sq m airside air cargo center in a joint venture with Graz Airport.
Swissport expects growth in air cargo handling to “outperform general airport ground handling for some time”.
The company has therefore made cargo a strategic priority and set ambitious goals to grow its second largest business line from a record 5.1m tons in 2021 to over 6m tons over the next couple of years.
Earlier this year, the company also expanded its cargo capacity at Schipol and announced the takeover of cargo handler Belgium Airport Services (BAS) in Liege.
Swissport adds cargo capacity at Schiphol as warehousing is “the new gold”
