Exploiting all possibilities


With volumes showing a decline last year after the previous year’s upswing, Vienna airport is working hard to prepare for the next improvement in the air cargo industry’s fortunes. And while transit cargo continues to be important at the gateway, Austria’s own exports make a valuable contribution too


A


fter an above average growth in 2010 as traffic caught up following the 2009 recession, Vienna Internation- al airport “reached a saturation of the market in 2011”, says Clemens


Schleinzer, press spokesman for the gateway. He noted that imports from the Far East in


particular decreased last year, with Jade Cargo and Air China ending their freighter operations to and from Vienna in the middle of 2011.


Overall, the airport saw its total flown and


trucked cargo volumes dip by 6.2 percent year- on-year, to 277,784 tonnes. Revenue rose by 9 percent to 582 million euros (US$773 million), but net profit fell significantly – down 58.3 per- cent to 31.6 million euros ($42.2 million). In spite of these results, Schleinzer affirmed:


“For the future we expect a stabilisation of the air cargo market during the second quarter of 2012. With the summer flight plan, Saudi Cargo started their cargo opera- tion to and from Vienna twice a week and also the Far East traf- fic is still growing,” he pointed out.


Noting that transit cargo is


still very important at Vienna, he said joint efforts are under way between the airport and Austrian Lufthansa Cargo to sustainably establish Vienna air- port as the third hub for the Lufthansa Group, alongside Frankfurt and Munich. In addition: “Asian and Ara-


More than just a CEE consolidation centre


This year celebrating its 10- year anniversary, European GSA SkyXS has used Austria as a “springboard” to develop its services across Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as well as to other European gateways, says group chief operating officer and manager of the company’s Austria branch Gerold Benesch. He pointed out: “Although


several agents use Austria as the consolidation centre for certain CEE countries, we must not underestimate the Aus- trian export volume, large manufacturers of small technological items, big aircraft parts, car industry suppliers as well as chemicals of all kinds create substantial inbound and outbound flows,” he observed.


Flag-carrier Austrian Airlines, part of the Lufthansa Group, has posted a loss of 59.4 mil- lion euros (US$78.7 million) for 2011. The airline attributed the negative result to


the tsunami in Japan, unrest in the Middle East and consumer uncertainty following the finan- cial crisis – as well as higher oil prices. While it failed to achieve a positive operating result, the carrier pointed out that the 2011 fig-


While Vienna International


airport is the largest in Austria, Linz airport is becoming increasingly important for off- line cargo and as a major road feeder service junction. “Linz airport also helps us a


lot in keeping costs down in terms of flexibility and effi- ciency. It is not a secret that the air cargo yields in Austria are not amongst the highest in Europe,” Benesch went on. With limited on-line capac-


Benesch has an eye on yields


ity at Vienna, freight must be trucked to other European gateways, increasing transit


times and eating into yields. “It therefore is a high priority to minimise these costs, which consequently increases the net flown revenue for our partner airlines,” he summed up.


Austrian Airlines continues to fight for positive result


ure represented an improvement of 8.2 percent in comparison to the preceding year, when the loss stood at 64.7 million euros ($85.7 million). During 2011, Austrian Airlines’ cargo traffic


as measured in revenue tonne-km totalled 2.2 billion RTK, an increase of 1.6 percent over the previous year. With capacity up by 3.7 percent, the cargo load factor dropped by 1.5 percent.


bian freighter-only carriers with an emphasis on either import or export or both have grown sig- nificantly in importance. “Vienna airport is regarded as an ideal gate-


way to/from Eastern Europe (for example, for Asian manufacturers in the automotive and electronics industries) due to its extremely quick and high-quality handling,” Schleinzer went on. Global forwarders such as cargo-partner,


DHL, Kuehne + Nagel and Schenker have their Eastern Europe headquarters in Austria, while 55 trucking companies are located at the capital’s airport.


He described the gateway as “well equipped


with a wide range of specialist facilities to deal with any kind of cargo”. For example, its 19,000m2


Air Cargo Center


(pictured), which was opened in 2006 and is now the main centre of the airport’s air cargo business, offers a special storage area for perish- ables, dangerous and vulnerable goods as well as veterinary services for live animals. “Vienna airport is establishing a new cargo


system to be well prepared for additional demands in future and refurnishing of the freight forwarders building and their ware- houses,” Schleinzer said.


9 April 2012


Page 9


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