One strong attraction the airport offers is its highly attractive and award winning SkyCourt terminal – now enjoyed by all scheduled and charter passengers passing through Budapest Airport.
Budapest Airport was last night named as winner of the European Regions Airline Association’s (ERA) Airport Achievement Award, coinciding with the Association’s Gala Dinner during its annual assembly in Salzburg, Austria. The award was presented to Chief Commercial Officer Kam Jandu by ERA Director General Simon McNamara. A panel of independent judges drawn from member airlines, journalists and industry leaders praised the airport for achieving a very fast recovery after losing its major carrier. “Airport management has reacted swiftly to create new business opportunities and has succeeded in rebuilding the lost network in less than a year. At the same time its passenger services have developed in a positive direction, including the ongoing improvement of departure punctuality. This is an outstanding achievement,” they noted.
ERA’s annual Airport Achievement Award was created to foster the mutually benefcial relationship between airports and their airline customers. Each year the accolade is given to the airport which, in the opinion of the judges, has achieved the greatest positive impact on intra-European air transport operations. As with the airlines, airport entrants are judged in context of their unique size and the operating conditions they face.
Warmly accepting the award from industry peers Kam Jandu paid tribute to the airport’s 800 employees for their hard work in recovering from what has been a very challenging period. “Simply, we learned to adapt – moving from a predominantly hub-and-spoke model to a point to point one, working closely with our low fare, regional and legacy carriers, who were all so terrifically supportive” he said. “Through hard work and support from our airlines and partners we succeeded in stemming the fall in annual passenger numbers to a mere 5%. Passenger numbers at the airport for 2013 are on course for about 8.5 million and we are forecasting an annual growth rate of 4% from 2014 on, working towards a goal of 10 million passengers by 2017,” he added.
While Budapest Airport has worked hard to make up for the lost routes on Malev’s network, several “white spots” still remain and talks are under way – both at ERA this week and at World Routes in Las Vegas to entice new operators to fill these gaps. In May the airport announced a 50% discount incentive scheme on landing fees to target these white spots, which include bolstering low-frequency routes, as well as new daily services. Furthermore, the airport is looking to develop a self-connecting mechanism to better facilitate transfer traffic. One strong attraction the airport offers is its highly attractive and award winning SkyCourt terminal – now enjoyed by all scheduled and charter passengers passing through Budapest Airport.
Budapest Airport scoops Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Fieldwork Award again
Complementing the ERA Achievement Award Budapest Airport has also been applauded for its outstanding research prowess, scooping the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Fieldwork Award in the Best Sample Category (European Airport) by Airports Council International (ACI). This marks the second year that the airport has scooped the accolade. It was presented in Milan Malpensa at the end of September as part of the annual ASQ Forum. ACI’s annual ASQ Fieldwork Awards recognise airports which achieve the highest standards in ASQ fieldwork. ACI introduced the Airport Service Quality Programme to help airports enhance the quality of service experienced by passengers. The programme identifies and disseminates best practice from top-performing airports around the world and provides practical management information and advice specifically for the airport industry. ACI held its first ASQ Forum in 2006 and now boasts over 200 participating airports.
Jost Lammers, CEO for Budapest Airport commented: “This Award is testimony to the ongoing reliability and attention to detail with which the research activities at our airport are being conducted and reinforces our continuing commitment to deliver the best practice in all areas of our business.
He added: “Budapest Airport is proud to have regularly featured in the roll call of winning airports, last year scooping the CAPA – Centre for Aviation Airport Marketing Award for Excellence and in 2011 as overall winner of the Routes Europe Airport Marketing Awards in 2011.”
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
