Budapest to become a Chinese cargo hub

Budapest could become a hub for air cargo, primarily e-commerce goods, arriving from China, following the signing of an agreement on the first phase of international cooperation to this effect.

According to the cooperation agreement signed by Budapest Airport and two large logistics companies, STO Express from China and EKOL, the European 3PL company with a strong presence in Hungary, the cargo traffic of the airport will expand significantly. The contract is related to the annual conference of the “16+1 cooperation” initiative, comprising China and 16 countries from the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region, which got under way in Budapest today.

At the economic, commercial and financial forum organized today as part of the conference, STO Express, one of the leading Chinese logistics companies, announced that, in line with the efforts of the Chinese government, it is developing its relations with the CEE region. As part of this, it has designated Budapest Airport as the hub for air cargo transportation, whereby, together with the airport operator and intermodal company EKOL, based in Hungary, it will establish a cargo transportation network in the near future, to transport products from China, through Budapest Airport, to customers in Europe; the latter with the help of EKOL Ltd.

STO Express’s first Boeing B747 cargo aircraft, filled primarily with e-commerce goods, arrived in the Hungarian capital on 3 November, in the colors of Silkway Italia, initially as a charter flight. After the signing of the cooperation agreement, STO Express will operate scheduled cargo flights to Budapest, which is likely to generate a significant increase not only in total cargo traffic, but also in the field of e-commerce, the main profile of the Chinese company.