Lyon airport expands cold-chain capabilities with WFS facility launch

Worldwide Flight Services has opened its 25,400-square-meter cargo terminal at Lyon-Saint Exupery Airport, expanding the airport’s cold-chain capabilities. The facility includes 4,400 square meters of temperature-controlled storage, significantly enlarging the airport’s ability to handle products requiring cold-chain management, such as healthcare and pharmaceutical shipments, Isabelle Rousset, head of external relations and corporate communications at Lyon-Saint Exupery Airport (LYS), told Cargo Facts . [caption id="attachment_57299296" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] An EAT Leipzig-operated A300-600F. (Courtesy/DHL and LYS)[/caption] The facility, which opened Sept. 29, adds to the airport’s cold-storage sites, which total more than 500 square meters split among three areas to accommodate different temperature ranges. The new facility also has five dedicated air freight pallet transfers and thirty-six door docks for cargo imports and exports, according to a Sept. 30 release from WFS. All told, including the cold storage area, the facility has 19,200 square meters of warehouse space, in addition to 3,700 square meters of office space. WFS will use 700 square meters to house its local operations offices. “The new facility has been designed to support the growth of healthcare, pharmaceutical and other high-value-added freight flows, which are strategic sectors for the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region,” Rousset said. She declined to state its annual cold-chain throughput tonnage. While LYS contributed financially to the aircraft parking area and road infrastructure that serve the WFS terminal, the airport did not fund the facility. It was financed and developed by a partnership of real estate developers Prologis and Groupe em2c, Rousset said. The new facility will enable DHL Express to more efficiently manage its inbound and outbound time and day definite international shipments thanks to direct access to airport runways, Dirk Heinrichs, press spokesperson at DHL Express, told Cargo Facts. “The Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region accounts for more than 20% of DHL Express France’s volumes, making it the company’s second most important region in France,” he said. The WFS facility, in combination with the 50,000-square-meter facility DHL Express opened at LYS in 2025, will accommodate the anticipated growth of shipment volumes over the next fifteen years, he added. Cold-chain expansion Post-pandemic, cold-chain logistics operations across the globe have continued to expand. Glasgow Prestwick Airport (PIK) in September 2025 invested $1.3 million in cold-chain equipment and personnel . The airport installed high-volume metal detectors, temperature-monitoring systems and four chillers with a combined capacity of 87 tonnes. Then, that November, Delta Air Lines announced it would invest $18 million to develop a 4,460-square-meter air cargo facility at Salt Lake City Airport (SLC). The facility will include a drive-in cooler and improved racking to optimize vertical storage. Korean Air in January selected Lodige Industries to modernize its cargo terminal , which spans 17,065 square meters, at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). The renovation plans also call for the construction of a refrigerated warehouse. WFS did not respond to requests for comment by publication time. Cargo Facts Symposium 2026, the premier event for the freighter aircraft and air cargo industries, will take place in Nashville, Tenn., on Oct. 21-23. Find out more and register here .

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