The Hungarian government plans to push ahead with the construction of a new terminal at Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD) now that the Central and Eastern European hub is back under majority state ownership.
It was confirmed in June that Corvinus, an investment fund owned and managed by the Hungarian state, has taken an 80% stake in the airport, while French infrastructure group Vinci Airports owns the remaining 20%, becoming the airport operator.
In a press conference on July 9, Hungary’s economic development minister Márton Nagy said a third terminal would be built by 2032 alongside the construction of new transport connections. It is estimated the work will cost about €2 billion ($2.2 billion).
“The airport’s future vision is to increase passenger numbers from the current 15 million to 18 million by 2028 and almost 20 million by 2030,” Nagy said in a speech translated from Hungarian. He added that traffic is expected to rise to 25 million passengers per year by 2040—which he said was “a conservative estimate.”
To achieve the government’s aims of increasing tourism, growing transit traffic, and further developing BUD as a cargo hub, Nagy explained that it plans to open discussions with Vinci over the airport’s future investment needs, which will include construction of a third terminal.
In tandem with this, he said new road and rail links surrounding the airport would be constructed. “If the third terminal is built and there is no infrastructure development behind it, then we have not really achieved anything,” Nagy added.
Alongside the plans for a third terminal, BUD’s Terminal 1, mothballed since 2012, is set to come back to operation in 2026.
Additionally, Nagy said that the government was in talks with Qatar Investment Authority for the purchase of 10% stake in the airport. He did not provide further details on the timeframe of the potential transaction.
The Hungarian government and Vinci’s deal to buy BUD from German airport management company AviAlliance, Canadian investment group CDPQ and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC totaled €3.1 billion for the airport’s equity. The buyers have also assumed net debt of €1.2 billion.
Under its previous ownership, BUD saw significant growth in passenger traffic, nearly doubling from 8.4 million in 2008 to 16.2 million in 2019. This growth was largely driven by the expansion of LCCs Wizz Air and Ryanair. In 2023, traffic reached 14.7 million passengers, rebounding to over 90% of pre-pandemic levels.
According to the airport’s preliminary forecasts, the number of passengers in 2024 will surpass the record-breaking 2019 figures and approach 17 million, while cargo volumes could reach a new milestone of 240,000 tons.
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