YARIS KABIN TO ESTABLISH FACTORY IN HUNGARY
90% of students are unable to attend school worldwide and millions of families face financial, work or health difficulties. The global consequences of the coronavirus epidemic have an unprecedented impact on children’s well-being and education. A press release by the LEGO Group has been inspired by the work of thousands of great charities, non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working to provide families with basic services during these trying times, whether it is to provide access to education or to support the youngest members of their community to feel valuable and safe.
Turkish firm Yaris Kabin is establishing its first production unit abroad in Hungary. With this investment worth EUR 20.3 million, announced in the Hungarian capital this May, the company will manufacture tractor and agricultural machinery cabins in Iváncsa, south of Budapest. According to the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA), 150 jobs will be created in four manufacturing halls and an office building to be built on 30,000 square meters of land. Production is expected to start as early as at the beginning of 2021. Founded in 1977 and still owned by the Yaris family, the headquarters and center of the company is in Balikesir, Turkey. Yaris Kabin mainly manufactures cabins for loaders, tractors, excavators, and sprayers. Apart from this, it manufactures tools and performs metal sheet and profile processing, welding, painting, assembly and research and development activities. Its cabin production capacity in Turkey is currently 70,000 pieces per year, representing a market share of 70% in Turkey, and exporting to countries on four continents, too. Yaris Kabin's references include TürkTraktor, Hidromek, Basak, Hitachi and Hattat, but the company is also an official supplier to Fiat .
BUDAPEST AIRPORT: 240 MILLION PASSENGERS IN 70 YEARS The international airport of Budapest, Ferenc Liszt International Airport, the aerial gateway to Hungary was inaugurated 70 years ago, on May 7, 1950. Over the past seven decades, hundreds of millions of passengers and millions of aircraft have used the runways and the terminal buildings of the airport. Seven decades, more than 240 million passengers, approximately three and a half million landings and takeoffs, two million tons of goods – this is the history, in a nutshell, of the international airport of Budapest. Before the coronavirus pandemic, airport staff handled 40-44,000 passengers and 336 flights on average per day. At the end of 2019, aircraft connected Budapest with 153 foreign destinations, according to a summary by Budapest Airport. The Ferenc Liszt International Airport lies between Budapest Districts XVII and XVIII and the town of Vecsés, on 1,515 hectares, approximately 15 times the area of Margaret’s Island in Budapest. There are more than 200 buildings in this huge expanse, with numerous warehouses, office buildings, the airport’s own power plant, police and firefighter unit, terminal and logistics buildings. In 1950, the year of its opening, the airport handled nearly 50,000 passengers. In 2019, traffic reached a new record, with 16.2 million passengers, which means that passenger traffic increased 325-fold in 70 years. The 21,000 square meters of terminal capacity that existed at the time of opening has grown to more than 103,000 square meters by 2020. According to estimates, the airport handled approximately 430 million pieces of (hold and hand) baggage over the past 70 years. In terms of air cargo, Ferenc Liszt International Airport handled about two million tons of goods over seven decades. 3,000 tons of cargo arrived in and departed from Budapest on average during the first decades of the airport’s history. By 2020, Budapest Airport’s air cargo handling capacity has reached 250,000 tons annually. Over the past five years, cargo traffic at the airport increased by 60% to approximately 150,000 tons per year.
The LEGO Group and the LEGO Foundation are working together to support children affected by the coronavirus with a total of USD 50 million worldwide. Part of the amount will be offered to existing and new partners in their local communities to help them support the basic care of the children concerned and to give them the opportunity to learn through play, thereby supporting their well-being and developing their skills. In Hungary, the Amigos program captures rare, joyful moments for young patients in the country's hospitals. The foundation of the same name is run by undergraduate students who help children learn language skills and prepare their lessons during the visits, and in addition to the joint skills development game, they are also surprised with small gifts. As current restrictions prohibit access to hospitals, a donation from the LEGO Group helped create Amigos Online. This way, volunteers can keep in touch with their little protégés online and play, learn and laugh together even in these difficult times. An important part of the project is to provide support in as many places as possible.I In cooperation with the Smile Foundation, the two organizations will broaden and strengthen the achieved impact with qualified therapists.
BMW POSTPONES HUNGARY PLANT CONSTRUCTION BMW Group announced in the middle of May that it would take official possession of the site of its would-be plant in Debrecen, E Hungary, by the end of the month. The head of the plant, Michele Melchiorre said at the land transfer that “we remain committed to the plans for the new plant in Debrecen. However, the global economic situation due to coronavirus pandemic has also an impact on construction, there will be adjustments to the plant construction schedule. The complex timeline is now under review, we assume the delay will be several months.” The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó was of the view that “at such a volume of investment, we need to take it natural that the schedule of the construction might have a few months of change. However, I would like to emphasize that every step will happen according to the contracts, there is no need to change any contractual frame. Today, the site has been handed over to BMW, the plant will be built and Debrecen will become a very important center of the global automotive industry.” The Hungarian government is reported to have already spent HUF 12-13 billion on infrastructural projects at or leading to the designated site of the manufacturing plant.
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LEGO GROUP TO HELP PANDEMIA AFFECTED FAMILIES IN HUNGARY
BUDAPEST AIRPORT, ZSOLT SZATHMÁRY, ZSOLT SZIGETVÁRY/MTI, MÁTYÁS BORSOS/MFAT
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2020. 06. 03. 11:40
