The invention relates to the cargo area of an airport, having transporting paths which connect the land side and the air side of the airport and are intended for the standard loading units (ULDs), and also having interim stores for the buffer storage of the loading units prior to the cargo being assembled. In order to create storage and sorting opportunities in the immediate vicinity of the transporting paths, while being simultaneously independent of the main store, and in order to achieve flexible supply of the loading units, it is proposed for the transporting paths to be assigned vertical stores each with a plurality of storage levels which are arranged one above the other, are set up above or alongside the transporting paths and in which, with the aid of lifting means, the loading units, which can be lifted off from the transporting paths, can be stored.