The Hungarian government to buy Budapest Airport?

The value of the airport is HUF 700-800 billion (EUR 2.245 billion), so the government would need a partner to do so, and experts already say it would be MOL, the leading regional oil and gas company. Of course, such amounts are not low neither for the government nor for the company. Furthermore, nobody would like to sell it, and even though it offered solid profit before the epidemic, today it seems more like a long-term investment for anybody interested.

According to hvg, the number of passengers was at a record low in September with only 88 thousand people, meaning a 70 pc fall. After the numbers came out, Bloomberg immediately wrote that a consortium led by Dániel Jellinek, the founder of the Indotek Group, made an offer for the airport. The newspaper said that

Orban’s allies would like to take control of Budapest Airport.

MOL said that they did not comment on any gossip, while Indotek Group stated that they continuously searched for investment possibilities and that they were conducting talks with Hungarian and American investors to buy Budapest Airport. Mr Jellinek added that because of the economic crisis, the airport was a good target.

• Will Budapest Airport be moved from Ferihegy?
• Low-cost airlines and air freighters to be moved from Ferihegy to Kecskemét?
• Ferihegy airport as a wine market for tourists

He also confirmed that the owners of the airport would like to sell it, but he cannot reveal anything else about the details.

Why now?

The answer is easy: the coronavirus epidemic destroyed international tourism, and even experts say that the sector can reach its 2019 volume only in 2022. Furthermore, nobody knows how effective the vaccine will be and whether people will travel by plane or use trains instead. Therefore, at first glance, it seems to be a good strategy to sell anything connected to tourism and international traffic.