The airports of Hungary: records in 2016 and new flights this year

Turizmus.com writes that all three international airports of Hungary closed a great year in 2016 and started 2017 as a rather promising one. Budapest, Debrecen and Sármellék are to welcome new flights this year.

Let’s get back a little to the last December, when Budapest Airport welcomed its 11 millionth passenger with whom the number of passengers altogether in 2016 became 11.4 million. This meant an increase of 11% compared to the previous year.

Furthermore, new flights became available from Budapest, such as Toronto by Air Canada Rouge, Beijing by Air China, and Seoul by the summer charters of Asiana Airlines. And there are meetings going on in order to connect to further airports in New York, Tokyo and Seoul.

The leaders of the airport predict a bit moderate increase of 4-5% for this year, however, with an appropriate market a more significant rise might be possible. According to them, the success may be the result of the beneficial financial status of the airline companies and the fact that Budapest is an attractive destination.

In order to further develop the services, the construction of ibis Styles Budapest Airport began at the end of September and it will probably open at the end of 2017. Once it’s done it’ll welcome guests in 145 rooms, and in case of such demands, the capacity could be even expanded.

Moreover, the parking lot was also expanded by 1000 spots, which will be repeated in 2017 as well, thus, altogether more than 4500 lots will await passengers, while new supplier gates and standing lots will be available at the B side from the summer of 2018. Yet, Terminal 1 will remain a location for events and film shoots only.

Meanwhile, the train-connection to the capital seems to get closer to implementation: the preparations started and the appointing of the possible tracks are in an advanced state. 2016 brought a record in air cargo, too, as goods of 112 thousand tonnes became shipped this year. Also, further developments shall be expected in this area, for two new office and storage buildings are on the way to be opened in this year’s summer.

The BUD 2020 development project also includes the 16 thousand square metres Cargo City storage and office buildings designed next to Terminal 2. Th construction is expected to be finished by the end of 2018. Other successes of the airport include several awards, such as the excellent qualification by the British Investor in People, or the title of MagyarBrands.

The long-term plans mention the construction of a new terminal, which would become really necessary from 2020, and the concept of implementation would focus on and take into account the needs of the younger generations, thus, applying the modernist technologies, using automatized and smart solutions.