Vienna Airport is making another key investment to expand its Airport City, starting construction work on enlarging its Air Cargo Center and adding one-third more space, over 161,000 square feet. The project will be implemented at a cost of about $17 million.

The new addition should be ready for operation by the end of 2017.

As part of the sustainability strategy of Flughafen Wien AG, the roof of the Air Cargo Center will be equipped with one of Austria’s largest photovoltaic facilities to generate electricity.

“The expansion of our Air Cargo Center should further improve our currently good market position as a transshipment point for air cargo,” said Günther Ofner, Member of the Management Board of the airport operating company Flughafen Wien AG. “At present about 800 tons of freight are handled daily at the airport, or about 280,000 tonnes annually, showing a clear upward trend.”

Half of the export production value in Lower Austrian—around $8.5 billion—is transported from Vienna Airport throughout the world via air cargo, Ofner noted. “These investments are designed to generate further growth potential at the airport site and for the Austrian economy, but above all to create new jobs in the logistics sector,” he added.

About one-half of the air cargo comes to Vienna Airport on scheduled passenger flights, while the remaining cargo volume is transported by cargo aircraft. Vienna Airport sees considerable future growth potential in the coming years.

The roof of the Air Cargo Center offers the possibility to build one of the country’s largest rooftop photovoltaic electricity generating facilities. At the present time, photovoltaic systems with an area of about 54,000 square feet are already installed on the rooftops of other airport buildings. In the summer of 2016, two photovoltaic systems with approximately 2,000 solar modules were installed on the roof of a hangar as well as on the roof of an equipment hall. The new rooftop photovoltaic plant is designed to double existing capacity.

Construction of another photovoltaic facility is an integral part of the sustainability strategy of Flughafen Wien AG, and will involve investments of about $1 million.