In terms of imports, there is growing demand from e-commerce vendors in Asia seeking new entry points into Europe, particularly ahead of the busy fourth quarter, with Prague presenting itself as a strong gateway. The sheer volume of e-commerce traffic makes the region a significant area of opportunity, with many service providers in Europe eager to meet this growing demand.
One notable development this year is the growth in air cargo operations at Prague Airport, where there has been a 53 percent increase in cargo volumes compared to the previous year. This highlights both the increasing demand for airfreight capacity in Europe and the strategic importance of Prague as a key logistics hub in the region.
The most important tradelanes from Prague are connections with Far East, Middle East and America. At this point there are direct passenger widebody connections with Seoul, Taipei, Beijing, Ulanbaatar, Dubai and seasonally New York from the hub. There are also regular freighter connection to Doha and Istanbul.
Next year, the airport is looking forward to the operation of Air Canada from Toronto and Etihad from Abu Dhabi, as well as strengthening its position South and Southeast Asia – to connect Prague with India, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore.
“Our main market advantage is very high level of service quality and sufficient cargo terminal capacity. All of the cargo service providers at Václav Havel Airport Prague are highly trained professionals, backed with modern and innovative digital technologies,” Jindřich Zeman, Cargo Development Manager, at Prague Airport, stated.
“Cargo handling agents are able to handle full B747 freighter in six hours, including customs clearance. There are no queues, no extensive waiting for the processes to be done. Another advantage of Prague is it’s geographic location. Being situated right in the centre of Schengen area allows us to serve whole Europe – East, West, North or South – by short-haul flights or RFS in few hours without the need for additional customs and border controls.
“We are proud members of The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA). Prague Airport has recently initiated the establishment of the Prague Airport Cargo Point platform, which aims to increase competitiveness in the cargo sector and further develop air cargo transport in the Prague Airport catchment area.
“These activities aim further to develop passenger and cargo flights, especially long-haul markets.”
Growth and investment
There are three independent cargo general handling agents – Skyport, Menzies Aviation and Enes Cargo. All of them are fully equipped to handle Unit Load Devices (ULDs), including ULD cold storage and in one case even Elevating Transfer Vehicles (ETV).
All of the handlers have direct tarmac access, cutting down the time necessary to handle import or export cargo to minimum, ensuring the ability to handle Boeing 747Fs from the moment it touches the ground to the delivery of goods to consignee in a few hours.
In most cases, the airport deals with automotive and electronic parts and components as these are the main exports of Czechia. As special cargo goes, they have significant amount of live animals, pharma, arms and ammunition and high growth in the number of vehicles transported by air.
All ramp and cargo handlers follow strict procedures to protect temperature-controlled goods. The handling facilities allows storage in all the usual temperature ranges even with whole ULD worth of perishables (often foodstuff, flowers, pharma).
“Our geographic location in Central Europe is perfect for close cooperation with road transport. Road feeder service is inseparable part of air cargo business in our region,” Zeman outlined.
“We are happy to say that we have high level of digitisation. On average, more than half of air cargo, depending on destination, is being processed paperless, as eFreight or EAWB. Digital technologies are always moving forward and we encourage our partners to seek improvement.
