Jet2.com Adds Budapest Link to Yorkshire Map

UK low-fare carrier Jet2.com has announced further expansion from its Leeds Bradford International Airport (LBIA) headquarters with a new twice weekly link from the Yorkshire gateway to the Hungarian capital Budapest. The airline will launch the flight on March 29, 2012 and will be mainly targeting city break traffic offering packages with its sister company Jet2holidays.

Budapest, which will host the 2013 Routes Europe event, will be the 15th city destination Jet2.com offers from LBIA and says its launch is due to “strong demand” from the airline’s local customer base. It already offers flights to the Hungarian capital from Edinburgh and Manchester.

“Based on our experience of Budapest flights from Manchester and Edinburgh we anticipate that the route will also be popular with inbound tourists seeking to explore all that Yorkshire has to offer – therefore providing a welcome boost to the regional economy,” said Steve Heapy, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet2.com and Managing Director, Jet2holidays.

The confirmation of the new route followed in the same week that LBIA announced the commencement of works on the next major stage of its passenger terminal development: an £11 million construction project to deliver new facilities and a significantly improved passenger experience.

“This investment over the next six months will deliver significant improvements to the passenger experience at Yorkshire’s gateway airport,” Tony Hallwood, Commercial and Aviation Development Director, LBIA told The HUB at the Invest & Manage Airports conference in London at the end of last week. “LBIA are committed to developing a regional airport to be proud of, alongside providing ‘best in class’ infrastructure which will provide for an increase in our terminal capacity. As one of the UK’s fastest growing airports, we are now investing for the future and showing our determination to provide the Leeds City region with an airport it deserves.”

The work on the airport will deliver a 65 per cent increase in the size of departure lounge; a 40 per cent increase in space in a re-modelled Security Zone to provide up to six channels; a new covered passenger walkway to aircraft stands; enlarged boarding gate zones; an extension to the Yorkshire Premier Lounge for both business and leisure passengers and a new contemporary look and feel to the airside departure lounge with a wider choice of new retail, food and bar facilities and an extended duty free store.