The aviation service provider Swissport opened an 8.000 square meter freight center in Fischamend, near Vienna International Airport, on Thursday. It is the second location of this provider in the region.

With today's opening of its second air freight center in Vienna, Swissport is eliminating local bottlenecks and offering airlines and freight forwarders additional capacities and more flexibility. The new 8.000 m² facility is located in the DLH SkyLog Park in Fischamend in the immediate vicinity of Vienna Airport. Swissport is one of the first tenants in the recently completed logistics center.

"We have invested in this state-of-the-art air freight center to support our growth in freight forwarding and to offer existing and new airline customers an even better product," says Dirk Goovaerts, Swissport's Global Cargo Chair. "We are very pleased that we can more than double our capacities in Vienna with the new building and now have the necessary infrastructure to support our ambitious growth plans."

A high-performance photovoltaic system has been installed on the roof of the new freight hall in Fischamend, which underlines Swissport's claim to sustainability. The energy production of the PV system of around 900.000 kWh corresponds to the annual electricity consumption of around 260 households. This is more than double the energy requirements of the new logistics center. Swissport is also relying on electrical innovation on the ground: the new hall in Fischamend is connected to the existing air cargo hall on the airport site by an electric cargo shuttle. The purely electrically driven truck has a range of 400 km and can be charged at a quick charging station directly in the hall.

 “After the crisis years of the pandemic, aviation and with it the global logistics flows are taking off again. We are therefore very pleased about Swissport's location and the opening of its air freight center today. This creates jobs and added value throughout the region,” explains Vienna Airport Director Günther Ofner.

In 2021, Swissport handled around 70.000 tons of air freight at Vienna Airport and has now doubled its capacity for its airline and forwarding customers. Within Austria, Swissport also operates a 3.500 m2 air freight center in a joint venture with Graz Airport.

With global air cargo logistics demand already above pre-pandemic levels and global air and ocean logistics capacity constraints persisting, Swissport expects air cargo handling growth to outpace general airport ground handling for some time to come. The company has made cargo a strategic priority and set ambitious targets to grow its second-largest business to over 5,1 million tons in the next few years from 2021 million tons in 6.