Airlines flocking to Hungary
By Robin Marshall
Proof of Hungary's ever growing stature as a tourist destination, if any were needed, came this week with the arrival, actual or announced, of four new airlines.
The biggest name of the four is Delta Air Lines, Inc whose first scheduled flight since 1998 arrived at Ferihegy on Tuesday morning (May 9).
The Atlanta-based airline will fly five times a week between Budapest and JFK Airport, New York, operating Boeing 767-300. Budapest Airport Zrt (BA Zrt) said it had been in negotiations with Delta since 2002.
Delta, the United States' third largest carrier, has been operating under bankruptcy protection since Sept 2005.
The company - which is marketing the flights in the US with purple posters bearing the slogan "enjoy buda. fly to pest" [sic] - last flew its own aircraft to Budapest in 1998, and had a code share flight with MALÉV Hungarian Airlines till 2002.
At around the same time the Delta flight was touching down at Budapest, Irish budget airline Ryanair was landing about 190km southwest at FlyBalaton airport at Sármellék, close to Lake Balaton.
The airport's new terminal was also officially opened, in a ceremony involving István Kolber, Minister without Portfolio in charge of Regional Development and Convergence, Tomasz Kulakowski, Sales and Marketing Executive Central Europe, Ryanair, Zsolt Csaba Horváth, Deputy State Secretary of Transport, and Ágoston
Gubicza, the Managing Director of FlyBalaton Airport.
As reported by The Budapest Sun on Dec 15, 2005 (Ryanair's Balaton flights set to boost tourism), the airline will fly Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the service three times weekly, and expects to carry some 40,000 passengers on the route in the first year of operations.
Earlier, on Monday, May 1, Finnish airline Blue1 (owned by SAS Scandinavian Airlines) became the 48th scheduled airline to use Ferihegy when it launched its thrice-weekly connection with Helsinki.
Stewart Wingate, the CEO designate of BA Zrt said, "There is a growing market between Hungary and Scandinavia, and we are delighted that Blue1 is bringing more competition to the services to Helsinki, as this is good news for passengers looking for great value for money."
According to the airport, Finland accounted for 175,054 passengers (2.1 % of total passenger traffic) in 2005, a 10% rise compared to the same period last year. Blue1 will operate from Budapest from 1 May to 30 of June, and between 1 September and 27 October, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Blue1 offers regional connections from Helsinki to the main Finnish cities of Kupio, Oulu, Rovaniemi, Tampere, Turku and Vaasa.
Finally, Czech airline Smart Wings, the republic's first low cost airline, announced that it was planning flights from Budapest to Paris (seven times a week) and Rome, Milan and Prague (six times a week).
Managing Director Attila Farkas told The Budapest Sun, however, that nothing concrete had been decided.
"This is something we are planning to do, but I don't know when the flights will be starting. I expect it will be another few weeks before we know," he said.
Smart Wings is the low-cost scheduled flight brand of Travel Service Airlines, which describes itself as the Czech Republic's largest private airline company.