Meet the Winners: Budapest Airport

During Routes Europe 2024 in Aarhus, Budapest Airport (BUD) shared its recent successes, key targets, and what it meant to be named the Overall Winner at the Routes Awards.

Recording 18% year-on-year growth in passenger numbers, BUD is confident the airport will break its 2019 record of 16.2 million passengers this year. Despite geopolitical and supply chain challenges, the Hungarian airport has achieved a wealth of route success in recent months.

A particularly successful market for BUD is China. During June 2024, China Southern Airlines launched a 4X-weekly service from Guangzhou while the new direct flight from Xi’an with China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines further enhanced economic ties and brought the number of flights between the two countries to 20 per week.

As one of BUD’s largest airline partners, Wizz Air launched a total of six new routes in 2024 including Brasov, Brussels, Bucharest, Stuttgart, Valencia, and Yerevan. Alongside increased services, Wizz Air also based an additional two aircraft at BUD and increased frequencies on existing services to provide an array of travel options for passengers.

Also showing confidence in BUD is Ryanair which expanded its total network to 66 destinations from Budapest throughout the summer schedule. New services include Faro, Frankfurt-Hahn, Trieste and Skiathos. Earlier this year saw the relaunch of easyJet service to Lyon and KLM chose to increase frequencies on its existing services such as Amsterdam.

Regarding key target markets, Balázs Bogáts, chief commercial officer at BUD, told Routes that China remains a core focus in both passenger and cargo operations. Transatlantic relations are another market of interest having had multiple services across the US and Canada pre-pandemic.

Another market showing potential is India while closer to home BUD explores niche markets such as Toulouse, Newcastle and Bilbao.

The hub airport was recognized for its marketing efforts and dedication to airline partners, having been crowned the Overall Winner and coming out on top in the Over 5-20 Million Passengers category at the Routes Awards in Aarhus. On its win, Bogáts added: “I’m absolutely thrilled that Budapest Airport not only won in its own category but as an Overall Winner. This is a real recognition of our efforts and that we are on the right track. All our partners can rely on our marketing expertise, dedication and professionalism.”

Promoting recent success and unserved route opportunities, BUD uses its Routes 360 membership to attract new services with airlines and keep the industry abreast of key developments. View the Budapest Airport profile.