Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates and a global connector of business and trade, has strengthened its operations in central Europe with the recent launch of cargo services to Budapest.

The Hungarian capital has one of the largest economies in central and Eastern Europe and becomes the latest trade lane in Emirates SkyCargo’s extensive worldwide network of more than 140 destinations.

Emirates’ daily flight to the city is operated with a wide-body Airbus A330-200 and offers 168-ton cargo capacity per week. On its first flight into the country, Emirates SkyCargo mainly carried consolidated cargo from the Far East and points in India, including a shipment of pharmaceuticals from Hyderabad.

“Budapest has an excellent geographic location and is a gateway to other central and eastern European logistics centers. The launch of a daily flight to Budapest will give us an expanded footprint in central Europe, and will complement our cargo services into Warsaw, Prague and Vienna. Trucking services can also feed offline markets in the region through Budapest, and onto our flight to Dubai, for further distribution across our network,” said Robert Siegel, Emirates VP, cargo commercial, Europe and Russia.

Top exports out of Hungary are machinery spare parts, hi-tech equipment and electronics and spare parts for land vehicles – which comprise about 70 percent of the exports. The remaining 30 percent are divided among industrial consumables, such as manufactured pipes, semi-manufactured steel and water/air pumps, food and beverage, generators and chemical products. Imports are dominated by semiconductors, telecommunication devices and components and audio and video products, making up more than 70 percent of the import market.

Emirates SkyCargo is claimed to be the world’s largest international air cargo carrier, offering belly-hold capacity across Emirates fleet of 230 wide body aircraft, 14 of which are freighters.