A record week of ‘firsts’ for Budapest Airport *** Terminal 1 to be gradually closed *** Revamped Facebook page! *** 6th Aircraft Added to Wizz Air’s Budapest Base *** airBaltic reintroduces Budapest-Riga services *** Qatar Airways announces direct, daily non-stop Budapest-Zagreb flights *** Jet2.com’s first Leeds Bradford UK service arrives in Budapest *** New low-cost Volotea to link Budapest and Venice Marco Polo *** TAROM introduces its third flight per day from Budapest to Bucharest *** Budapest Airport announces new Aegean flights to Athens *** Budapest Airport participates at Travel Expo 2012 *** Turkish Cargo increase frequency *** The protection of natural waters *** Earth Hour 2012 *** BUD showcased at f.re.e-Munich *** BUD presence at ITB Berlin
A record week of ‘firsts’ for Budapest Airport
Hot on the heels of last week’s news including the first Jet2.com flight arriving from Leeds Bradford, Budapest Airport is bracing itself for a record week of inaugural services with the start of a further three new routes for the Hungarian capital over the next few days.
On Wednesday April 4th Dutch airline Transavia.com, a member of the Air France/KLM Group, will commence its new direct, scheduled services between Budapest and Amsterdam. The new flights will operate four-times weekly (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) utilising 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Tickets are available to book now at www.transavia.com, with round-trip fares starting from just €79. Transavia.com is a brand new airline at Budapest with the Amsterdam route having previously been operated by both Malev and KLM, which remains with its three times daily service between Budapest and Amsterdam. Transavia.com’s strategy is to respond to growing demand for city trips and short breaks. Bram Gräber, Managing Director-Chairman Transavia.com said: “Flights to Budapest perfectly complement our route network and further strengthen Transavia.com’s position in Eastern Europe.”
Prague-based low cost airline SmartWings will commence its six scheduled weekly flights to Paris Charles de Gaulle on Friday April 6th. The SmartWings’ Paris services will be followed later this month by twice weekly scheduled flights to Barcelona, with weekly charter services to Heraklion, Burgas, Zakinthos, Corfu and Rhodes starting throughout June.
Also on, Wednesday April 04, Wizz Air will welcome a 6th Airbus A320 to its fleet of Budapest-based aircraft. With this new arrival, the third addition to its fleet in less than three months, Wizz Air has the largest Budapest-based fleet of any carrier in Hungary.
Despite the Hungarian national airline, Malev, declaring bankruptcy and ceasing services in February, Budapest Airport is enjoying a successful 2012. This summer the airport will host 36 airlines, compared to just 33 last year, with almost the same number of destinations. Already this year Wizz Air has commenced two weekly flights to Dortmund in Germany and Aegean now operates flights four times weekly to Athens. Ryanair announced an exciting return to Budapest Airport commencing services to an intended total of 31 European destinations. Air Berlin also re-entered the market with a daily service to Berlin which has now been increased to 11 frequencies per week offering a good product for business travellers.
Volotea will provide three weekly services to Venice from 01 June and from 02 June Blue1 will operate twice weekly to Helsinki in Finland. In addition, Tarom will increase its Bucharest frequency to three times daily and from 19th April TAP will increase frequency to Lisbon from seven to eight flights per week. Lufthansa also increased their capacity and will offer almost ten percent more seats from Budapest than summer 2011. This increase includes the introduction of new routes to Hamburg and Berlin.
Terminal 1 to be gradually closed
Budapest Airport plans to close Terminal 1 on a temporary basis, for approximately 4-5 years, in an effort to better manage the critical financial situation which has evolved in the wake of the Malév bankruptcy.
The low cost carriers will soon have to pack their bags at Terminal 1 as the historic building, opened in 1950, is due to be closed. Budapest Airport’s 10.5 billion HUF development program has also been suspended, and, as part of that, the Cargo City will definitely not be constructed this year. Additionally, the company has introduced drastic cost saving measures, and has been forced to lay off approximately 180 employees. The temporary closure of Terminal 1 is also a part of this crisis management program.
The management of Budapest Airport has already informed the airlines using Terminal 1 and the retail and food and beverage tenants located there that they have to move to Terminal 2 within the shortest possible time, before the peak summer season. The airport operator will thereby achieve a saving on operating expenditure, and will also be able to better utilize the capacities of the SkyCourt, the new 30-billion-HUF passenger facility opened at Terminal 2 last year. Terminal 1 handled 2.3 million passengers last year. After the bankruptcy of the national carrier Malév, more low cost carriers commenced operations in Budapest, whilst many existing partners expanded capacity, and it became clear that during the morning peak period, for example, there was simply not enough space at Terminal 1. The calculated annual capacity of Terminal 2 is currently 10.5 million passengers, which under the present circumstances will be sufficient for a number of years.
Budapest Airport’s Business Unit Aviation and Business Unit Consumers are discussing about the planned relocation with the affected airlines and tenants, and preparations have begun at Terminal 2 to establish the systems required by the low cost carriers. According to Budapest Airport’s plans, if agreement is reached with all partners, the relocation can be completed by the end of June, the onset of the summer peak season. The condition of the historical Terminal 1 building will be protected and all necessary safety and security measures will be taken, but otherwise only the airport operator’s offices and administrative staff will remain in the building.
Together with the affected airlines, Budapest Airport will inform passengers in good time, using all available channels (media, website, facebook, etc.) about when specific airlines will relocate to Terminal 2, where their flights will depart from, where their check-in counters will be located, etc.
Revamped Facebook page!
On 24 March Budapest Airport debuted the new welcome page on its Facebook profile, and introduced our two new colleagues, BUD Kata and BUD Peter, the two users who will be representing the airport. Going forward they will be answering questions put to us on the social networking site and will share the latest airport news and features.
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6th Aircraft Added to Wizz Air’s Budapest Base
Wizz Air welcomes a 6th Airbus A320 to its fleet of Budapest based aircraft. With this new arrival, the 3rd addition to the fleet in less than 3 months, Wizz Air has the largest Budapest-based fleet of any carrier in Hungary.The airline recently began operating its summer schedule which includes flights to 31 destinations from Budapest, including popular destinations such as Catania and Rome (Italy), and Barcelona (Spain). In addition, as of this week, Budapest based travellers will once again have a direct flight from Budapest to Sofia (Bulgaria) with Wizz Air opening the route and flying 3 frequencies per week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday). This summer also welcomes the opening of Wizz Air routes from Debrecen to London-Luton on 18 June 2012.
Alongside network news, Wizz Air closed out its financial year on 31 March 2012 and confirms that the company is in a solid financial position and will continue with its double-digit growth in the coming fiscal year. Wizz Air carried more than 11 million passengers in the last fiscal year, 1.3 million of which were on routes to and from Budapest. Wizz Air achieved an average load factor of 85% across its network.
“With the arrival of the 6th aircraft in Budapest, Wizz Air takes its place as the airline with largest fleet based in the Hungarian capital city. This is an important milestone for a company with its roots in Hungary and such a significant number of Hungarian staff. Our company continues to grow and with that growth will come more opportunities for passengers to enjoy our winning combination of low fares and great customer experience,” – said György Abrán, Chief Commercial Officer, Wizz Air.
airBaltic reintroduces Budapest-Riga services
Budapest Airport welcomed the first seasonal airBaltic flight linking the Hungarian captial city with the Latvian capital city of Riga, and onwards to the Baltics, Scandinavia, Russia and the CIS.
airBaltic has reintroduced its five weekly flights between the two cities for summer 2012, with a convenient schedule between Budapest and the increasingly important commercial hub of Riga. . The flight schedules are Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays:
| Depart Riga 11:55 | Depart Budapest 14:15 |
|---|---|
| Arrive Budapest 13:15 | Arrive Riga 17:30 |
Qatar Airways announces direct, daily non-stop Budapest-Zagreb flights
Qatar Airways will commence direct, daily non-stop flights between Budapest and Zagreb, Croatia from 09 May through to the end of October, enhancing its existing daily service between Doha and the Hungarian capital and connecting Doha and Zagreb for the first time.
In addition the flights will provide passengers originating from either Budapest or Zagrebto transit via Doha and connect onto Qatar Airways’ flights to Asian destinations and also further afield to Melbourne and Perth.”
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The Qatar Airways Budapest daily flight timetable will be as follows from 09 May:
| Flight No. QR947 | Flight No. QR947 | Flight No.QR948 | Flight No. QR948 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Departs DOH 7:40 | Departs BUD 13:15 | Departs ZAG 15:10 | Departs BUD 17:05 |
| Arrives BUD 12:15 | Arrives ZAG 14:10 | Arrives BUD 16:05 | Arrives DOH 23:20 |
Flights are available to book now at qatarairways.com or via travel agents. Lead in fares from Budapest to Zagreb start from approx. €190 including taxes and charges.
Qatar Airways’first landed at Budapest from Doha in January 2011, offering its award winning five star service utilisingAirbus A320 aircraft configured with 12 Business Class seats and up to 132 Economy seats.
Jet2.com’s first Leeds Bradford UK service arrives in Budapest
Budapest Airport welcomed the first flight of Jet2.com’s newly inaugurated service from Leeds Bradford, UK to Hungary’s capital city on 29th March.
The new twice weekly flights from Budapest Airport to Leeds, Bradford will depart on Thursdays and Sundays. This is the third route Jet2.com operates from the airport and joins the existing regular flights to Edinburgh, and the daily schedule operating between Budapest and Manchester. The route, which will operate year round, has been launched following demand from the airline’s customers and follows the on-going success of the existing routes.
The Budapest to Leeds schedule is:
| Thursday | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Depart Budapest 13.05 | Arrive Leeds Bradford 15.05 | ||||
| Depart Leeds Bradford 08.30 | Arrive Budapest 12.30 | ||||
| Sunday | |||||
| Depart Budapest 15.30 | Arrive Leeds Bradford 19.30 | ||||
| Depart Leeds Bradford 20.05 | Arrive Budapest 22.05 |
Kam Jandu, Director Aviation of Budapest airport commented: “We were delighted to welcome the first flight from Leeds Bradford to Budapest Airport. The flights ensure inbound passengers to Budapest can enjoy long weekends, whilst outbound passengers can visit the UK’s largest county, Yorkshire, through convenient and regular services. As Leeds is also the largest media, financial and legal sector outside of London, business travellers have a much increased choice in terms of their arrival point into the UK. We look forward to supporting this much demanded route.”
Steve Heapy, Chief Commercial Officer of Jet2.com and Managing Director of Jet2holidays, said: “We are pleased to be able to offer the people of Budapest another UK destination direct from their local airport. Based on the experience of our existing Budapest flights we anticipate that the route will be popular with tourists seeking to explore all that Yorkshire has to offer.”
Fares start from only 49,49€ one way including taxes. Whilst the aircraft, a Boeing 737 offers an all economy cabin with up to 148 seats, there is the option to buy extra leg room on eight of the seats, and to select allocated seat numbers on ticket purchase. The airline also offers a generous luggage allowance of 22kg. Fare details can be found at jet2.com
New low-cost Volotea to link Budapest and Venice Marco Polo
Volotea, the airline for Europe’s small and mid-sized cities, will start operations at Budapest Airport on June 1st, following the establishment of its first operating base at Venice’s Marco Polo airport.
| Budapest-Venice Marco Polo | Venice Marco Polo- Budapest | |
| Departure Arrival | Departure Arrival | |
| Wednesday | 19:30 20:15 | 17:45 19:05 |
| Friday | 20:05 21:40 | 18:20 19:40 |
| Sunday | 13:35 15:10 | 12:15 13:35 |
Tickets are available starting at €19 one-way, taxes included, at volotea.com.
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"We are delighted to welcome Volotea to Budapest,” said Kam Jandu, Budapest Airport Director Aviation. “Venice is an excellent addition to our route network and we wish Volotea every success with their exciting new venture.”
"Volotea is born to link, via accessible fares and non-stop flight, Europe's small and mid-sized cities, because we believe in enabling easy access to destinations of great cultural and economic interest,” said Loredana Tramontano, Volotea’s International PR International and Contract Manager.
TAROM introduces its third flight per day from Budapest to Bucharest
TAROM announces its third daily flight from Budapest to Bucharest starting with Monday, March 26, 2012.
RO232 Budapest 09.35 - Bucharest 12.15
RO231 Bucharest 08.15 - Budapest 09.05
The present TAROM flight Budapest-Bucharest-Budapest, each day of the week:
RO236 Budapest 16.05 - Bucharest 18.45
RO235 Bucharest 14.45 - Budapest 15.35
The previous TAROM flight Budapest-Bucharest-Budapest, is modified according to the following program, each day of the week, except Saturday:
RO234 Budapest 19.40 Bucharest 22.20
RO 233 Bucharest 18.20 Budapest 19.10
Flights will be operated with ATR planes.
"We decided to introduce a new frequency on the Budapest – Bucharest- Budapest route in order to meet our passengers' expectations, considering the traffic on this route, for the next period.
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The flight schedule is established according the needs of the passengers travelling on this route and for the transit passengers as well", stated Rodica Cazanciuc, Commercial Director TAROM.
Budapest Airport announces new Aegean flights to Athens
Budapest Airport has announced that the Greece-based Star Alliance member, Aegean began new direct scheduled services between the Greek capital of Athens and Budapest commencing 09 March.
Schedule:
Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays
Depart Athens 09:15 Arrive Budapest 10:20
Depart Budapest 11:05 Arrive Athens 14:05
Local times are shown
Tickets are available now at aegeanair.com.
Aegean is brand new airline at Budapest. The Athens route, which links two Hochtief airports, was previously operated by Malev. “We are delighted to see the popular Athens route reinstated so quickly following the cessation of Malev operations,” said Kam Jandu, Budapest Airport’s Aviation Director. “This is a great direct link with Greece by the country’s largest airline and the convenient flight schedule enables business and leisure passengers from Hungary to make easy flight connections to and from the rest of Greece.”
Budapest Airport participates at Travel Expo 2012
One week after the f.re.e. travel exhibition in Berlin, the Travel Expo 2012 was held at the Hungexpo Budapest Fair Center. As in past years, Budapest Airport was in the focus of attention at one of the most important events for the Hungarian tourism trade.
Patrick Bohl, head of airline development for Budapest Airport held a presentation for representatives of the tourism trade and the media on the second day of the expo about life after Malév at the airport and future prospects.
Turkish Cargo increase frequency
Turkish Cargo has increased the frequency of its flight to Budapest to two a week. Turkish Airlines’ cargo subsidiary sees considerable opportunities in the Hungarian market, and plans further frequency and capacity increases.
The company plans to increase the frequency of its cargo flights to Budapest from two to three a week, and to replace the Airbus A310 with a larger A330F type aircraft. This would increase capacity, currently at 38 tons, to 64 tons per flight. Levend Arisoy, general manager for Turkish Cargo in Hungary, is optimistic. “We see great potential and excellent opportunities in the Hungarian market. Hopefully we will be able to expand to three flights a week in the near future, and can fly the Budapest route with a much larger aircraft. We would really like to turn the cargo flight between Budapest and Istanbul into a daily one by 2015.”
Turkish Cargo appeared on the Hungarian market last July, initially with one flight a week commuting between Budapest and Istanbul. The airline transported approximately 1500 tons of cargo between Hungary and Turkey in the space of six months, thereby becoming the most dynamically developing new cargo airline at Budapest Airport last year.
The protection of natural waters
Two of the seven oil and sediment collection basins planned to be constructed at Budapest Airport have already been completed, with all seven due to be operational by the end of March. The structures are designed to protect the water quality of the Gyáli brook, and indirectly, the Danube.
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The huge, subsurface devices are able to treat up to 1600 liters of rainwater per second, by means of a process called physical phase separation. The structures treat the polluted rainwater containing mineral oils and settled or floating sediment, collected from the runways and taxiways, ensuring that rainwater is clean by the time it re-enters natural waters.
The investment project is not the first measure taken by the airport operator for the protection of nearby natural waters. In 2010 Budapest Airport installed a water quality monitoring device within the area of the airport, which has been in live operation since last November, following successful trials. Amongst other things, the device measures the concentration of organic matter, such as the special substance used for aircraft de-icing during the winter, which enters the water drainage network together with rainwater. The device not only performs a monitoring function, but also plays a direct role in safeguarding water quality, signaling if the concentration of harmful substances reaches a critical level, triggering protective measures. In such cases a special valve in the drainage canal closes and channels the polluted rainwater into the sewage system of the airport.
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The special airfield ground lighting, which can normally be seen from a distance of 20 kilometers (12.5 miles), was turned off and other areas, such as parking lights, also operated in a reduced mode with non-essential lighting switched off for an hour.
Precautionary measures were taken to ensure that airport staff were well prepared for the temporary black-out, which took place under strict national and international control to ensure the safety of passengers and aviation.
BUD showcased at f.re.e-Munich
Based on the success of 2011, BUD showcased at the f.re.e Travel and Leisure Trade Fair on a joint stand with Hungarian National Tourism Office in Munich between 22-26 February.
Germany remains the largest country pair for passenger traffic to and from Hungary. German exhibitions are an ideal opportunity to showcase the airport and the network to German consumers. BUD primarily used this exhibition to promote its image, distribute information, acquire new customers and support its partners’ sales by promoting the advantageous airline and hotel offers to 120,000 fair visitors.
BUD presence at ITB Berlin
Attending ITB for the 4th time BUD exhibited jointly with the Hungarian National Tourism Office.
The presence once again provided BUD with great opportunities to meet other airports, airlines, tourism operators and to target the German passengers with its partners’ offers.
The attendance of more than 170,000 visitors, 11,000 exhibitors and over 7,000 journalists meant record numbers for the international travel show of Berlin.