Vienna Airport and Korean Air signed an agreement today to expand their existing partnership. The objective is to jointly meet the growing demand for air cargo services between Korea and Vienna Airport in its capacity as a flight and cargo hub for Central and Eastern Europe. Plans include joint market initiatives targeting freight forwarders and customers as well as an exchange of industry expertise as the basis for offering optimal services. Korean Air has been regularly operating cargo flights to Vienna since 2004.

Thanks to its geographically favourable position in Europe, Vienna Airport has established itself as a global business interface for air cargo for neighbouring countries such as the Slovak Republic, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, and has long served as a link connecting Eastern Europe and Western Europe. Due to increasing investments in the region on the part of Korean companies, the airline Korean Air expects growing demand for air cargo in the coming years.

“We are pleased to announce our collaboration with Vienna Airport. Korean Air is fully committed to improving air transport services through this agreement and ensuring the highest possible customer satisfaction between Korea and Vienna,” states Jaedong Eom, Senior Vice President and Head of the Cargo Business Division at Korean Air.

(from left to right): Julian Jäger, Joint CEO and COO of Flughafen Wien AG, and Jaedong Eom, Senior Vice President and Head of Cargo Business Division at Korean Air.

“The neighboring countries of Austria and Asia have been economic regions that have been closely linked through international air cargo traffic for many years. Especially in the automotive and electronics sectors, Asian companies rely on the manufacturing capacities in the eastern European region. Korean Air is an important air cargo partner since 20 years and I am pleased that we can now further expand our long-standing partnership in the cargo sector with this agreement,” says Julian Jäger, Joint CEO and COO of Flughafen Wien AG.

“Korean Air has already been leveraging Vienna Airport for two decades to provide rapid and reliable access to Central and Eastern European markets. Within the context of the new agreement to further expand our cooperation, we will jointly develop our air transport services along the route between Vienna and Incheon Airport in South Korea to optimally meet the increasing demand,” adds Michal Zach, Head of Ground Handling Services at Flughafen Wien AG.

Vienna serves as a cargo hub for goods to and from Asia, for example for customers involved in automobile production in Central and Eastern Europe as well as for electronic and pharmaceutical goods. Thanks to a well-developed logistics infrastructure and spacious handling capacities, Vienna Airport offers quick transshipment times via the European motorway network, enabling goods to reach about 23 countries by truck within 36 hours.