Magyar Posta opens mail processing centre at Budapest airport
Magyar Posta, the Hungarian Post Office, has officially opened its new international mail processing facility at Budapest’s international airport. The company invested EUR 4.5m in the new facility as part of its efforts to improve service quality and prepare for the liberalisation of the Hungarian postal market in 2013.
As with other European Union members, Hungary is expected to open the doors of its postal market to private competition.
The new centre was actually completed at Terminal Two of Franz Liszt International Airport at the end of 2010, but since then it has been used by the Hungarian government, as part of its European Union Presidency.
After completing various test runs, the facility had its formal inauguration earlier this week, with Magyar Posta promising “new standards” for the processing of international mail.
Called the International Center for Post Exchange, the 4,800 square metre facility features EUR 1.8m of processing technology including “world-class” air cargo screening equipment and the latest material-handling systems, the Post said.
The facility will help Magyar Post reduce its operating costs by bringing together mail processing activities that had been split between the airport and a site in central Budapest.
Some 272 processing staff are to be based at the new centre.
The new facility was officially opened by László Geszti (right), the new CEO of Magyar Posta, and Jost Lammers, CEO of Budapest Airport
Ambitions
Laszlo Geszti, who took over as Magyar Post chief executive at the start of this month, said the new facility was a symbol of his company’s wider ambitions to modernise its services, enter new markets and make use of the latest technologies to provide a high-quality, secure service.
Budapest Airport, which has agreed a 10-year lease with Hungarian Post for the new mail centre, is also currently in the process of developing a major new air cargo logistics facility to further boost its capacity.
“Cargo City” will have airport cargo facilities featuring 140,000 square metres of cargo and logistics terminals designed for airlines, handlers and integrators.
René Droese, property director at the airport, said: “The postal facility will fit well into our other major development projects that will increase the value of this area around the airport. We plan to develop an entire Cargo City with all necessary logistics, a state-of-the-art Office Park near Terminal Two, and an Airport Business Park on the Southern edge of the airport.”
