Direct flight to be launched between Budapest and the USA next summer

Airportal.hu writes that, with the beginning of the 2018 summer schedule, a direct connection between Budapest and the USA can be launched again, as it is among the plans of Budapest Airport.

According to Balázs Bogáts, the flight development executive of Budapest Airport, the Liszt Ferenc International Airport’s operator is negotiating with seven airlines about the relaunch of the transatlantic flights.

The airport operator is not only negotiating with European and American, but also third country airlines regarding direct flights between Budapest and New York or Chicago. These airlines would operate the flight in the frameworks of the fifth freedom right, which means that they can operate flights that depart to another country from the base of the airline, and then continue their way to a third country.

For instance, Emirates’ Dubai-Budapest flight could continue to New York (and fly back on the same route). By the fifth freedom right, airlines can sell tickets for all stages e.g. for both Budapest-New York and New-York Budapest flights. This solution is not new for Emirates, they already have two flights to the USA that land in European cities (Milan-New York and Athens-Newark). Bloomberg reported last year that the airline asked for the necessary permission and that the Hungarian government was open to negotiations.

Previously Malév’s, American’s and Delta’s flights served the route seasonally from time to time, but the direct connection was abolished with the bankruptcy of Malév in 2012 and the vanishing of the Balkan air traffic.