The air freight sector at Vienna Airport is experiencing a significant resurgence. In the first quarter of 2024, the airport handled 68,058 tons of air freight for both import and export, marking a 16 percent increase year-on-year.
Compared to the pre-coronavirus levels in 2019, this represents a growth of 1,417 tons, or approximately 2 percent.
The Pharma Handling Center also saw a notable rise, with a 6.9 percent increase to a total of 886 tons in the first quarter.
The primary driver of this positive trend is the substantial increase in belly cargo on passenger aircraft. The revival in air travel has provided additional cargo space, which is in high demand.
The volume of belly cargo more than doubled, rising by 52 percent to 27,131 tons. This surge more than compensated for the 12 percent decline in cargo-only aircraft volumes, which totaled 20,238 tons.
This decline was primarily due to the transfer of cargo shipments to passenger aircraft and some one-off effects from the previous year.
Additionally, trucking volumes increased by 15 percent year-on-year to 20,678 tons. The growth in air freight was balanced between imports and exports, with both segments expanding significantly.
Imported freight rose by 14 percent to 37,468 tons, while exported freight grew by 17 percent to 30,572 tons.
“The development of air freight in the first quarter gives us cause for optimism,” said Michael Zach, Head of Handling Services at Flughafen Wien AG.
“Demand for air freight is picking up noticeably, both for general cargo and pharmaceutical shipments, which we handle in our state-of-the-art pharmaceutical center.
The flight schedule change has already added additional long-haul capacity to North America and Asia. We are prepared for further growth to strengthen and expand our role as an air cargo hub for Central and Eastern Europe with these and other connections to international markets.”
