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Revamped Facebook page! *** Terminal 1 of Budapest Airport continues operations until further notice *** airBaltic reintroduces Budapest-Riga services *** 6th Aircraft Added to Wizz Air’s Budapest Base *** Transavia introduces its new flight to Amesterdam *** 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 *** Passengers pedal away from Heinemann Duty Free with prize bikes *** Upcoming new routes *** Special Benefits in Restaurants *** Heinemann Chocolate for Kids *** The protection of natural waters *** Budapest Airport participates at Travel Expo 2012 *** Qatar Airways announces direct, daily non-stop Budapest-Zagreb flights *** Class in the clouds – with Ryanair *** Earth Hour 2012 *** Jet2.com’s first Leeds Bradford UK service arrives in Budapest
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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Terminal 1 of Budapest Airport continues operations until further notice
A decision regarding the temporary closure of Terminal 1 at Budapest Airport has been made but the closure date has not yet been identified.
Temporary closure of Terminal 1 and migrating airlines to Terminal 2 is currently being finalised by Budapest Airport and as soon as the final decision and timing is made our passengers will be informed via airlines and via communication channels of Budapest Airport (bud.hu, facebook, twitter) and also via the media. Until details are released of the migration and temporary closure plan, all existing Terminal 1 operations will remain in Terminal 1.
We kindly advise our passengers that the latest up to date information concerning flight departures are available from Budapest Airport’s official website which covers all departures within a 48 hour time horizon.
Further more we will continuously update our check-in page as well where the check-in information can be seen per airline.
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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. Flight number BT491 touched down at 13:15 April 2nd afternoon.
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 | Arrive Budapest | 13:15 | |
| Depart Budapest | 14:15 | Arrive Riga | 17:30 |
The first flight was operated by a Bombardier Q400 aircraft. Kam Jandu, Director of Aviation for Budapest Airport said: ”We are delighted to see the very welcome return of airBaltic’s Riga route. The services were a huge success last year and we’re very proud that airBaltic – the biggest airline in the Baltic countries – has chosen to operate the route again this summer.”
The new flights will provide passengers travelling via Budapest with improved transit connections to destinations in the Baltics, northern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia and the CIS. Lead-in fares for economy tickets start from just 77 Euros for a one way fare; airBaltic is also offering the commercial traveller a business class service with fares starting from EUR 269. Tickets can be purchased via the airBaltic website – www.airbaltic.com.
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.
Transavia introduces its new flight to Amesterdam
On Wednesday April 4thDutch airline Transavia.com, a member of the Air France/KLM Group, commenced its new direct, scheduled services between Budapest and Amsterdam.
The new flights will operatefour-times weekly (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sun) utilising 189-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft. Tickets are available to book now at 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.”
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.
The initial route Budapest-Venice Marco Polo will link the two cities three times a week, every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Starting on June 1st, schedules will be as follows:
| 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.
Volotea will become the only operator on the Budapest-Venice route. Volotea will provide 750 weekly seats on the Venice route, 39,000 seats during its first full year of operations.
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"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.”
Passengers pedal away from Heinemann Duty Free with prize bikes
A trip for two to Paris and two valuable American retro-style bicycles were the main prizes collected by the lucky winners of Heinemann Duty Free’s winter campaign. The promotion focuses on a different theme each time and during the winter it centered around the motif of “Urban Life”. As part of that, the prizes were a weekend in Paris for two, offered by Air France, and two city bicycles (one for men and one for women) from American manufacturer Electra.
Ever since the opening of the new passenger hall called the SkyCourt at the airport last year, the largest tenant, Hamburg-based duty free operator Heinemann, established by a pair of brothers and still operating as a family business, has attempted to serve up positive surprises for travelers in every season. The shop’s internal spaces are restyled once in a while around a new motif. This time the operators chose urban life, city culture, transportation and modern business, and, accordingly, tasteful decorations symbolizing urban life appeared in the outlet.
Enikő Pipis was in for a huge surprise when she found out that she was among the winners of the Heinemann Duty Free’s winter promotion campaign. The youngster from Szeged and her boyfriend were able to collect a very special prize, two of the features from the wintertime “Urban Life” campaign, a pair of American-made Electra bicycles, one made for men and one for women. The valuable vehicles had been on display in the central part of the airport shop since the start of the campaign, and had been admired enviously by tens of thousands of passengers. In fact they proved so popular that several visitors had tried to bid for them.
The other prize on offer during the promotion was a trip for two to Paris courtesy of Air France. It was won by another Hungarian passenger, Péter Kerekes, who is a frequent flier in his capacity as a product manager for a multinational telecommunications company. Péter arrived to collect his prize with a smart carry-on suitcase before taking the early afternoon flight to Munich for his next business trip.
Smartwings, Paris, April 6.
TAP Portugal, 8 weekly flights to Lisbon, April 19.
Qatar Airways, Zagreb, May 9.
Volotea, Venice, June 1.
Blue1, Helsinki, June 2.
Special Benefits in Restaurants
From the beginning of April, restaurants operating in the airside areas of Terminal 2 are offering discounts to passengers. Coupons handed out between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. will be accepted in a selection of restaurants.
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Costa Coffee
Leroy
Café Ritazza (2a)
Ne’o
UpperCrust (2b)
Negroni
Seasons
KFC
Dr. Juice
Heinemann Chocolate for Kids
Thanks to Heinemann Duty Free operating three stores at the airport, Budapest Airport donated 500 bars of exquisite Swiss-made chocolate to disadvantaged children.
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The kids living in the apartment homes ‘Attika’ and ‘Gyöngyház’ of district 18 were happy to receive the sweets, the proper distribution of which will be handled by their ‘foster parents’.
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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
“The extended services from Qatar Airways are a welcome addition to Budapest,” said Kam Jandu, Budapest Airport’s Director of Aviation. “Zagreb is an important commercial link for Hungary and we’re delighted to see the return of direct flights between the two cities. 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.”
The Qatar Airways Budapest daily flight timetable will be as follows from 09 May:
| Flight No. QR947 | Departs DOH | 7:40 | Arrives BUD | 12:15 | |
| Flight No. QR947 | Departs BUD | 13:15 | Arrives ZAG | 14:10 | |
| Flight No.QR948 | Departs ZAG | 15:10 | Arrives BUD | 16:05 | |
| Flight No. QR948 | Departs BUD | 17:05 | 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.
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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.
Class in the clouds – with Ryanair
No fewer than 150 Hungarian primary school students participated in a special pleasure flight organized by Ryanair as the prize in a drawing competition. 32 Hungarian primary schools entered the competition organized by the Irish low cost carrier, with the students of the best performing four classes invited to take part in a 45-minute flight over Hungary on board Ryanair’s Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
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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
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 flight, which landed ahead of schedule, carried a virtually full load with 142 passengers arriving on board the Boeing 737. They were welcomed by representatives from the airport who presented the Jet2 crew with a traditional Hungarian marzipan cake. Departing passengers leaving on the first Jet2.com 13.05 flight to Leeds, Bradford enjoyed a celebratory check-in as the airport had decorated the area with colourful balloon columns to mark the occasion.
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