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History of the airport

1. The first phase of design and construction - between 1939 and 1944


2. The period of reconstruction, 1947-50


3. Continued growth: 1960-1980


4. Growing demand, new infrastructure: 1980-2000


5. Budapest Airport Zrt. – change of ownership


6. 2007-2011:Preparing the airport for the years ahead


7. 3 February 2012: The grounding of Malév


8. Return to growth: BUD 2020


9. 2019-2020



The first phase of design and construction between 1939 and 1944

In 1938, the idea of building a new airport in Budapest arose. An area in between three settlements, Pestszentlőrinc, Rákoshegy and Vecsés, was assigned as the area of the new airport. The Airport was intended for joint civil-military-sporting purposes. Civil facilities were planned to be erected in the northwestern and military ones in the southwestern part of the area. Just as for all buildings, a public tender was initiated for the design and construction of the terminal.

In December 1939, upon announcement of the results of the tender, the designs of Károly Dávid Jr. (1903-1973) were judged to be the most appropriate for implementation. The designer, who was one of the originators of modern Hungarian architecture, dreamt up a building which resembled a large aircraft, when viewed from above. Works commenced in 1942. In order to access the airport, located 16 kilometers from the city center, an express road was constructed between 1940 and 1943. The express road was connected to main road number 4 by a concrete road running alongside the western side of the airport. This road provides for the accessibility of Budapest Airport to this day.

The military buildings were constructed in parallel with the civil facilities, from 1940, but somewhat faster, due to the war. Active air traffic commenced in 1943. During wartime, civil construction works slowed, and then stopped altogether in the beginning of 1944. Towards the end of World War II, most of the already completed and half-finished airport buildings were in ruins, or were severely damaged. By the end of 1944, Budapest and its airport were under Soviet occupation.

The period of reconstruction, 1947-50

In 1947 it was decided that the airport would be reconstructed for civil aviation purposes. Under the “three-year plan”, 40 million forints were earmarked for these works. The opening ceremony was held on Sunday 7 May 1950, and the completed facilities were used for the operation of the Hungarian-Soviet Civil Aviation Co. Ltd. (MASZOVLET), established in 1946.

At that time, the airline operated only a few foreign flights, in particular to Prague, Bucharest, Warsaw and Sofia.

When Malév Hungarian Airlines was established on 25 November 1954, several activities were merged into the new company, now operating with Hungarian participation only. The first scheduled flight departing from the airport to the West was Malév’s flight to Vienna in the summer of 1956. The first Western airline to launch a flight to Budapest was KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, in 1957. The terminal building was finished during this period, and the 2500-meter-long runway was lengthened, to accommodate larger aircraft. The 3010 m runway and taxiway D were completed at the end of 1958.

Continued growth: 1960-1980

With respect to traffic, the number of landings at the airport increased from 4786 at the time of opening to 17,133, and passenger traffic from 49,955 to 359,338 by 1960. Scheduled and charter passenger and cargo flights departed to more and more countries. In 1965, a comprehensive study was drafted on the development of the airport, which was finally implemented after a delay of more than 10 years, from the end of the 1970’s. Air traffic, airport operation and air traffic control all reached the limits of their respective capacities, and required significant development.

The Aviation and Airport Directorate (LRI) was established on 1 January 1973, in order to cope with the increasing number of tasks, and to separate airline, commercial and authority, as well as investment, operational and air traffic control activities.

In 1974, passenger traffic reached one million. Due to the rapid increase in the number of aircraft overflying the country, several new projects were implemented. In 1977, construction started on a new control tower and a second runway of 3707 meters, parallel to the first. Also, a technical base was built for maintaining Malév’s aircraft.

New infrastructure for growing demand: 1980-2000

In 1980, the number of landings and passengers reached 32,642 and 1,780,000, respectively. The growing number of passengers called for the further expansion of airport capacities, and the construction of a new terminal was decided upon. The foundation stone of the new passenger traffic building was laid down on 16 November 1983. Terminal 2, a facility with an area of 24 000 square meters, built from Austrian loans under general contracting, served passengers as of 1 November 1985. It was used by the aircraft and passengers of Malév, and then, subsequently, by those of Lufthansa, Air France and Swissair. Due to its large apron offering both contact and remote stands, as well as six passenger bridges, Budapest Airport once again become a modern airport, according to the standards of the time. The old terminal, now called Terminal 1, continued to handle the traffic of airlines from other countries.

In 1990, the airport registered more than 40 000 take-offs and landings, served 2.5 million passengers and controlled 75 000 aircraft in Hungary’s airspace. The latter number increased manifold, to over 350 000 by the end of 1995.

In the summer of 1993, Malév launched the first Hungarian overseas flight to New York. The development of aviation did not slow, and, due to the changes that took place in the country, new developments commenced. According to the traffic figures forecast for the turn of the millennium, the two terminals, capable of handling 4 million passengers a year, would prove insufficient. The construction of Terminal 2B started in 1997. The new building, of an area of more than 30 000 m2, and the adjoining apron, were opened on 8 December 1998.

Budapest Airport Zrt. – from public to private ownership

As of January 2002, a new chapter started in the life of the airport once again. The Aviation and Airport Directorate was abolished and replaced by two new organizations, as HungaroControl became responsible for air traffic control and Budapest Airport Zrt. for airport operation. The latter was tasked with establishing a modern and profitable airport, which provides services conforming to European standards, and connects Hungary with other regions of the world. What turned this into a significant challenge was the explosive increase in passenger traffic, whilst it was necessary to keep pace with the growing demands of the aviation industry. This is illustrated by the fact that traffic at Budapest Airport doubled between 1998 and 2005, jumping from 3.9 million to 7.9 million. Major investments were once again called for.

At this time, the Hungarian State, sole owner of the airport so far, decided on partial privatization. In June 2005, the State’s privatization agency initiated a tender for concession rights. The tender was successfully finalized by the end of the year, and the British company BAA, the owner and operator of major British airports, took over the management of the airport. One-and-a-half years later, in June 2007, there was a change of ownership, when BAA decided to sell its stake to the German company HOCHTIEF AirPort and three financial partners.

2007-2011: BUD Future – preparing the airport for the years ahead

During this time, the history of the airport was defined by the SkyCourt project and the Airport City long-term development plan. Construction of the new central hall at Terminal 2 commenced in 2009, and it was inaugurated in March 2011. The new 28 000-square-meter building is integrally linked to the two older buildings, Terminals 2A and 2B. The SkyCourt resulted in an integrated Terminal 2 facility, and was designed primarily to boost passenger traffic capacities, and secondly, retail, food and beverage outlets, by expanding Terminal 2 in several phases.

In June 2011, the Hungarian State, as minority owner, decided to sell its stake to the majority owners. Thus, HOCHTIEF became solely responsible for the operation of the airport. From 2013, it was renamed HOCHTIEF AirPort AviAlliance.

3 February 2012: The grounding of Malév

3 February 2012 went down in the history of Hungarian aviation as “Black Friday”, after the national carrier was grounded at 6:00 a.m. The airport operator was forced to suspend numerous developments, including the Cargo City project, and had to implement drastic cost-cutting measures. The crisis management program included the closure of Terminal 1.

Already on the day of the Malév bankruptcy on 3 February 2012, Budapest Airport made huge efforts to replace the traffic of the grounded national carrier with other airlines, as it sought to minimize the negative impacts of the grounding on Hungarian passengers and tourism. As a result, the airport ended the year with only a 4.7% decrease in traffic.

Return to growth: BUD 2020

In just two years after the grounding of Malév, Budapest Airport strengthened its position and returned to growth. Its recovery was much faster and more successful than other European capital city airports following the loss of the national carrier. After 2014, the airport reached new annual passenger traffic records in 2015 and 2016 as well, when it managed to exceed 9, 10 and then 11 million passengers for the first time in its history. The rapid growth spurred the operator to implement more developments, and at the beginning of 2016, it announced a five-year development plan called BUD 2020.

Budapest Airport financed the 50-billion-HUF development program from its own resources. Its centerpiece was Pier B, a new passenger circulation building connected to Terminal 2B. Construction commenced at the beginning of 2017 and the facility was handed over in the second half of 2018. The 220-meter-long pier increased the area of Terminal 2 by more than 10 000 square meters and significantly expanded the airport’s boarding gate capacity. It enables the concurrent handling of ten category C narrow body aircraft (e.g. Airbus A320 or Boeing 737), or three wide body (e.g. Airbus A330 or Boeing 777 used for long haul flights) and four category C aircraft, via air jetties. The pier offers a total of 27 different boarding options, as it supports bussing and provides walk-on, walk-off boarding gates as well, to cater for the different needs of the airlines. The new building section also increased the area available for passport control for arriving non-Schengen passengers.

As part of the BUD 2020 program, a whole host of spectacular and not so visible but important developments were implemented at the airport. New logistics facilities were built near Terminal 1 for two international parcel companies, DHL Express and TNT, and preparatory works on the Cargo City, the brand new cargo base near Terminal 2, also commenced. Budapest Airport developed airport infrastructure in several phases, as part of which a 900 meter section of runway I was refurbished, a new instrument landing system was installed and a new taxiway F was constructed near Terminal 2.

2019-2020

The BUD Cargo City, a world-class air cargo handling base and one of the largest airport development projects of the last few years was completed in November 2019. Since then, it has been operating as the cargo gateway to Central and Eastern Europe.

As part of developments aimed at enhancing passenger convenience, Budapest Airport handed over the first phase of a new boarding hall, called Pier 1, in January 2020. The building nearly quadruples the area available for the passengers of the low cost carriers and provides the same level of comfort as the terminal buildings.

For the efficient handling of passenger traffic, the construction of a new baggage sorting hall also commenced, where the bags of departing passengers can be screened on a larger area, with the latest technology.

Budapest Airport commenced the introduction of the self-service baggage drop-off system. The passengers of flights where this service is available may read their boarding passes at baggage drop-off counters in the terminals, can print their bag tags and place them on their hold baggage themselves. This is followed by the scanning of the tags, and then passengers can check in their hold baggage within seconds at the automatic counters.

For Budapest Airport, it is a primary consideration during developments to provide a passenger-friendly environment, in addition to the highest level of safety and security. The security screening process was accelerated and became more calculable in 2019, and passengers can now leave large electronic items in their hand baggage during screening. Waiting time dropped below 15 minutes in 2019, even during the peaks, which is short, even by international comparison. Following the handover of two new passenger security screening lanes last year, Budapest Airport commenced the construction of two more in January 2020, whereby the total number of screening lanes will increase to 18.