René Droese moves from BUD to MUC

René Droese, the deputy CEO and Chief Development Officer of Budapest Airport Zrt., left the company on 31MAR24. During his tenure of 17 years, he held various leading management positions. Going forward, he takes on the role of Managing Director of a company belonging to the Munich Airport Group. Its name: LabCampus GmbH.

The manager has put Budapest on the global air cargo map since the opening of BUD Cargo City in 2020. This includes the development of its express business as seen by an increasing number of flights operated by DHL Express and on behalf of its sister company Global Forwarding, U.S. integrator FedEx, and the Hungarian Post. In addition to his cargo responsibilities, he developed passenger capacities via Pier 1, the new Terminal Parking facility, a number of hotels already built or currently under construction in the immediate vicinity of the passenger terminal, and numerous capacity improvements at Terminal 2. Further projects implemented under his lead include the preparation of Terminal 3, as well as several infrastructure developments, such as hangars, office refurbishments and facilities for airport partners, including Wizz Air, Lufthansa Technik and Aeroplex.

Opening doors to the ecosystem
In his new role at LabCampus, he will be responsible for developing an area at the site of Munich Airport comprising approx. 500,000 m², creating a working environment for promising start-ups that can benefit from the local infrastructure, encouraging encounters and dialogues with each other. This includes opening doors to the ecosystem in the Bavarian metropolitan region and to international innovation hotspots. Hence, the manager faces a very demanding, multifaceted task in bringing together young companies and their innovators with research institutions and high-tech industries across various sectors, focused on incubating and creating new market opportunities. The three catchwords written on his task board are: ‘connect’, ‘create’, and ‘collaborate’. A second major task is to take responsibility for the development and leasing of non-passenger related airport properties including new cargo facilities for MUC’s Cargo community. For this, he can make use of his vast freight experience gained in Budapest.

Lots of success in MUC
Ever since it became known that Droese was leaving Budapest Airport, there has been an avalanche of reactions. After all, he has left deep footprints there. Here is a brief selection:

Jozsef Kossuth, Head of Cargo Budapest Airport Zrt, stated; “I would like to express our gratitude on behalf of the entire BUD Cargo community, cargo partners, our cargo team and especially myself, for all René has accomplished, his efforts, professionalism, motivation, engagement, support, humanity, collaboration, and fairness coupled with great energy to develop air cargo in the last 17 years at and around Budapest Airport. We definitely wouldn’t be where we are today in cargo without René and his enduring commitment. Being my superior for quite some time, he acted more like a mentor and colleague than a boss. I promise to René that we continue our cargo journey at BUD, and I wish him lots of success in MUC!”

He did an amazing job
Dr. Marie-Theres Thiell, Member of the Supervisory Board, Member of the Board of Trustees and Managing Partner of the business network, DialogueHungary had this to say: “Dear René. Congratulations on your new tasks 💐. I remember countless flights on which we met on the Dusseldorf – Budapest route and vice versa. Like me, you felt very much at home in Budapest and were an integral part of the local business community. I wish you much success and energy for the new challenges in Munich.”

Others reacted by posting short statements on LinkedIn, like TIACA Chairman, Steven Polmans: “Congrats René Droese and all the best and lots of success and fun in your new role!”

So did Tiago Lopes, Senior Aviation Engineer at the European Investment Bank: “Dear René Droese. This is a fantastic challenge after an already great career! I am sure you will succeed in your future role. All the best!!”

Another post worth mentioning comes from Lyudmíl Elshishki, Network Operations Central Europe, DHL Express: “Congratulations and all the best. It’s been great to witness all that you’ve done for Budapest Airport and even more so a real pleasure to work with you!”

Droese leaves big footprints
Last but not least, Nouri Neller, Managing Director FREX Air Cargo, delivered these remarks: “René Droese did an amazing job in Budapest and brought cargo traffic up front. Word of this achievement has spread far beyond Hungary and has been a topic at international conferences and panels, as seen at the latest Air Cargo Europe event. The upswing in air freight is benefiting the local economy, which is offered reliable supply chains thanks to the steadily growing number of cargo flights to and from BUD Airport. René has left a clear mark in Budapest, which a successor must now fill.”