Vienna Airport has added 13,000 square metres of cargo capacity and opened a new Pharma Handling Centre to meet growing air cargo volumes and demand.

The developments are part of a €17.9 million investment by operator Flughafen Wien to expand its cargo capabilities and it says further facility expansion of air cargo and locating of logistics partners is a “crucial” future growth area.

As part of the plan four steps are being taken: the expansion of the Air Cargo Centre, the new pharma hub, the locating of logistics centres such as Cargo Partner, DHL and other firms as well as the improvement and expansion of transport infrastructure.

The airport opened a new logistics centre in October adding 13,000 square metres to the Air Cargo Centre including deployment of latest technology and the Pharma Handling Centre.

In the future, the airport explains there will be a strong focuson the new Pharma Handling Centre, which covers about 1,600 square meters and is located in the enlarged Air Cargo Centre.

The facility features a 153 square metre cold store for shipments from 2°-8°C, and another 1,415 square metre area for 15°-25°C. Vienna Airport will invest a further €1.9 million in the new Pharma Handling Centre up until the autumn of 2018.

The gateway is also focusing on sustainable growth and one of the country’s largest photovoltaic facilities covering an area of 8,000 square metres was installed on the roof of the state-of-the-art Air Cargo Centre.

Flughafen Wien member of the management board, Julian Jäger says: “Our good market position as an air cargo transshipment hub will be further strengthened thanks to the expansion of the Air Cargo Centre.

“In particular, we can focus on a market niche with high standards on the basis of the future Pharma Handling Centre and position ourselves through first-class expertise and an optimal infrastructure.

“Austria is an exporting country in the pharmaceutical industry, which is developing very well. We will support domestic pharmaceutical companies to generate growth by providing special, highly professional handling services.”

Fellow member of the management board, Günther Ofner adds that half the export production value of lower Austrian industry, products manufactured to the amount of €8 billion is transported as cargo throughout the world via Vienna Airport underlines the gateway’s “essential role” as a cargo transshipment hub.

He adds: “Further growth is expected in the years to come, especially due to the strong increase in e-commerce. Our own investments, especially the locating of logistics partners at the airport site such as cargo-partner, Kühne+Nagel and soon DHL contribute to exploiting this growth potential.

“DHL will set up a logistics centre on an area of over 60,000 square metres and create 500 new jobs.”