Austrian Airlines and its home hub Vienna Airport ended 2024 on a high note off the back of strong industry growth and an effective double hub strategy.
Figures from Vienna Airport reported a November cargo throughput 23.5 percent up on the same month last year at 27,134 tonnes. Nor is this a blip as figures for the year to date, so without bumper December are up 21.6 percent on the same January to November period last year at 272,921 tonnes.
What’s more Vienna things this will continue into next year.
“Yes, we are expecting high volume in January due to the e-commerce surge over Christmas and further due to the usual high demand before the Chinese New Year, which is already on January 29th,” said Michael Zach, Senior Vice President Ground Handling & Cargo Operations of Vienna Airport.
In terms of products moved the most relevant goods are general cargo (mainly automotive industry, machinery) from Europe to North Atlantic. Pharma and temperature sensitive goods in the life sciences “play a vital role,” added Theresa Schlederer, Director Austria at Lufthansa Cargo in late November.
“We see some e-commerce from EU to US on Austrian Airlines flights but up to date it is limited volumes when referring to belly flights of Austrian Airlines,” she added.
Key to the success of both Austrian Airlines and Vienna airport is their ability to connect those routes to other destinations both long haul and short haul on land – the second part of the double hub.
The airport offers rapid transshipment times based on its 24/7 operational readiness, with no night flight restrictions for Chapter lll aircraft. Ten Category F aircraft parking bays for Boeing 747 and Antonov 124 close to the terminal buildings help its connectiveness as do 76 scheduled airlines who serve 240 worldwide destinations.
On the ground Vienna Airport is linked to Europe’s network of air cargo road feeder services meaning consumer and business centres in Central and Eastern Europe are accessed quickly. Belgrade is 752 km away, Bratislava only 62km, Berlin 634km and Budapest, the current darling of Chinese investors, 266km.
“We can connect Asia and North America and offer our customers very fast connections within the different markets. Additionally, to our flight network, we are able to offer our customers a dense truck network across Europe, connecting all important European business locations” added Schlederer.
Cargo handling facilities are located within the bonded warehouse of Vienna Airport and have direct access to the apron, accelerating the flow of goods between aircraft and shipper. State-of-the-art systems and software guarantee optimal integration of all partners such as airlines, airports, customs and transport companies.
Positive as Austrian Airlines is it also aware, like the rest of the industry “unforeseen global events challenge us in our daily business,” said Schlederer. “Another aspect is the current rather slow economic growth in Europe. For us as a business, our hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Brussels are a big advantage to offer our customers fast transit times. We see this in a positive development of imports, especially from South-East Asia” she added.
Lufthansa gives some limited elaboration and precious few hints on how this might develop in the future.
“The e-commerce market is continuously growing as well as the demand for it in Europe and North America. This is also shown in our current freighter network with up to 50 frequencies to 17 destinations in Asia plus up to 16 destinations, which we serve with belly capacities,” said Schlederer.
As well as e-commerce pharma and life science shipments are increasingly important with Vienna as an airport pitching to be a Pharma hub. Lufthansa is well placed to gain from this with almost 30 CEIV certified stations worldwide and state-of-the-art Pharma hubs in Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna or Chicago.
“Of course, we also seize the opportunities for pharma transports in Vienna with a very good collaboration with the stakeholders at site, especially industries and forwards, to find well-fitting solutions for our customers, e.g. as add-on services or customised solutions for specific use cases. In general, we see a high expertise for special products in Vienna (also emergency, automotive etc.) and a continuous growth in the partnerships with our customers in complex supply chain network operations,” added Schlederer.
This growth is being driven by additional flights and the resulting increase in capacity. Qatar Airways Cargo, for example, has been operating a weekly service between Vienna and Doha since September. The Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines also returned to Vienna at the end of May.
“The increasing number of airlines that have chosen us as a reliable cargo location, and in particular the 45 percent growth in belly freight, confirm our importance as a key logistics hub between Europe and Asia,” said Julian Jäger, joint CEO and COO of Vienna Airport.
