NEWS IN ENGLISH | Budapest Airport: Robust Traffic Increase
Budapest Airport: Robust Traffic Increase
2015-05-15 08:32:00



Budapest Airport
Budapest Airport saw the strongest April traffic ever - in total, 840 486 passengers arrived at and departed from Ferenc Liszt International Airport last month, representing a traffic growth of 10.8% over prior year, a rate of more than twice the EU average.

The first month of the summer schedule period was quite busy at Budapest Airport, as the fourth month had never brought traffic levels this high in April before. Six or seven years ago, the airport would have to serve 840 486 passengers in a strong June or July. The annual growth of passenger traffic in Budapest has reached 10.8% (April 2015 versus April 2014), and the first four months combined exceeded the first four months of last year by 12.1%. Air Traffic Movements were 3.9% above April 2014, and the average load factor of aircraft has reached 79.8%.

With the traffic boost experienced since the beginning of the year, Budapest is leading in the region by far, as shown by the Q1 indicator of 12.6% growth versus Vienna-Schwechat at -2.8% and Prague at +3.5% in the same period. Over the first three months, the average rate of traffic growth at airports of EU member states was 5.1%.

April passenger growth at Budapest Airport was partly due to new routes launched in the summer schedule including Wizz Air's Lisbon flight and Vueling's Budapest/Rome service, and partly to higher capacities offered on existing routes. A series of new flights are to be launched soon in Budapest: after Air China's Beijing-Budapest operation started on 1 May, Wizz Air is to launch its scheduled Maastricht route on Friday, and Hurghada on Saturday. In June, Air Transat of Canada commences its Toronto-Montreal-Budapest flight.

"We are really proud of our traffic performance which shows that Hungary continues to be a very attractive travel destination both for business people and tourists," said Jost Lammers, CEO of Budapest Airport. He added, "Being amongst the best performers of European capital airports shows that Budapest Airport is very much fulfilling its long held potential for all stakeholders including many new airlines fostering both inbound and outbound travel demands."