Swissport has signed a 7-year lease for two air cargo terminals near Vienna Airport as the company aims to expand its cargo activities and build its share in forwarder handling.

The adjacent 8,000-sqm warehouses are part of the Deutsche Logistik Holding‘s ‘SkyLog Park Vienna’ in Austria’s Fischamend region, the company said. The completion of construction work is scheduled for the fourth quarter of this year, when operations will move from the 4,600 sqm Cargo Nord Object 10 to the two state-of-the-art facilities.

The cargo terminals will offer ample warehouse and office space in the centre of an industrial zone and increase the warehousing capacity by nearly 50 percent, allowing Swissport to grow its share in forwarder handling. With energy from its rooftop solar panels, the new warehouses are also expected to power nearly all of Swissport’s electric ground service equipment fleet.

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Swissport noted this is the second major investment in Vienna, following the opening of a warehouse with direct tarmac access right at Vienna Airport in mid-2019.

“Despite persisting challenges to global aviation, air cargo volumes have rebounded and again reached 2019 levels,” said Henning Dieter, head of Swissport Cargo Services Germany & Austria. “It will support our expansion into forwarder handling and greatly benefit our customers and staff.”

Swissport inaugurated a 17,000-sqm air cargo warehouse and pharma hub at Frankfurt Airport in November last year. It also opened a new office building in Brussels, where a complete refurbishment of its 25,000-sqm warehouse with 47 truck loading bays is currently underway.