Linz Blue Danube Airport in the centre-north of Austria is close to securing aMiddle Eastern freighter operator, its airlinemarketing and cargo developmentmanager, Dieter Pammer, said.

"We have a carrier interested inscheduled charter services with a stopin Austria and they are only awaitingtraffic rights," he says, though he admitsthat there is also a question mark as towhether there would be enough trafficat Linz to justify the stop.

Linz claims to be ideally placed toserve the manufacturing facilities in theEU accession countries, including theCzech Republic and Slovakia. It offers24-hour operations for freighters, theresult of a special concession granted tocargo at the start of this year.

In 2006, the airport handled 34,000tonnes of cargo last year, but most of thiswas trucked to other hubs, such as Cologne,Munich and Vienna. Flown cargoincluded belly cargo on narrow-bodypassenger flights, and some visits fromVolga-Dnepr and Polet moving steel assembliesfor a local construction firm.

The airport has two new cargo halls,built by its own handling subsidiary, whichopened in November and January.