The Hungarian gateway continues efforts to culminate an extensive network which now encompasses 122 cities and 130 airports, served by 39 airline partners.
Welcoming over one million passengers each month this year, Budapest Airport has witnessed its busiest January and February ever and, expecting a similar trend in March, is recording an 18% year-on-year growth in passenger traffic. Announcing significant advancements in its route development initiatives, the airport is marking a notable milestone in the road to full recovery in 2024 and expansion of its route network.
The summer season brings an array of new services to further enrich Budapest’s diverse portfolio of destinations, despite considerable headwinds in the industry due to aircraft delivery delays, including:
- Ryanair: Milan (MXP), Tirana, Faro, Frankfurt (Hahn), Trieste, Skiathos
Beyond the 6 new routes, Ryanair announced increase frequencies on 26 existing routes, such as Alghero, Malaga, Sofia, Berlin, Pisa, and Birmingham.
- Wizz Air: Brasov, Brussels, Bucharest, Chisinau, Stuttgart, Valencia, Yerevan
Beyond the 7 new routes, Wizz Air announced increase frequencies on 10 existing routes, such as Milan, Rome, Basel, Athens, Madrid, Malta, and Nice.
Additionally, Budapest has announced frequency increases across various further routes:
- easyJet: Basel, increased to 13-times weekly, Geneva, increased to six-times weekly
- KLM: Amsterdam, increased to 34/35-times weekly
Furthermore, the capital city airport continues to elevate its long-haul flight services with strategic frequency increases from the Far-East:
- Seoul: Korean Air expanded its operation to four-times weekly to cater the needs of business passengers even better.
- Shanghai: Shanghai Airlines offers now daily flights from three weekly in S23, enabling better connections to China, South-East Asia, Australia and New-Zealand.
- Beijing: Air China increased to three-times weekly
With an impressive reinstatement of 91% of pre-pandemic passenger traffic, Budapest Airport served 14.7 million passengers in 2023, forecasting to exceed its previous best-ever results of 16 million in 2024. Additionally, the airport expanded its non-stop scheduled seat capacity by over 30% to key markets beyond Europe, including China, the Middle East, and North Africa. This concerted effort catapulted the airport to become the eighth largest gateway in the EU for non-stop seat capacity to South Korea.
Maté Ritter, Head of Airline Development, Budapest Airport says: “With an unwavering commitment to enhancing passenger experience, providing affordable travel options via growing supply of capacity and facilitating global connections, we have charted a course towards sustained growth and excellence. These developments underscore our work in advancing connectivity, driving economic growth, and enriching the travel experience for all our passengers.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
