Best of Budapest & Hungary

Budapest Airport, the operator of the Liszt Ferenc International Airport of the Hungarian capital, expects passenger numbers to increase from the summer schedule period, and awaits the gradually surging traffic with a safe, renewed environment and even higher service quality.

The coronavirus pandemic had a strong impact on aviation as a whole in 2020. The total of 3,859,379 arriving and departing passengers in 2020 registered a 76% decline from the previous year. This huge drop is not a unique phenomenon by any means; according to EuroControl, 1.7 billion passengers “vanished” from aviation in Europe last year and the number of flights decreased by 6 million, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the related national restrictions. Despite the difficulties of last year, Ferenc Liszt International Airport welcomed and launched flights continuously in 2020. Thanks to the responsible financial management of the previous years and our financially strong owners, the operation of Budapest Airport remains stable; the company’s financing is ensured. Thus, the development of the airport continued even during the coronavirus pandemic. Although the volume from 2019, in respect of passenger traffic, could return by 2022-2023, Dr. Rolf Schnitzler, the CEO of Budapest Airport stated that passenger numbers are expected to increase from the 2021 summer schedule period, which is of course greatly dependent on the availability and the effectiveness of the coronavirus vaccine and the course of the pandemic. “Budapest Airport is ready for the restart of traffic,” he emphasized. “Although we experienced a significant setback last year, work at Budapest Airport did not stop. Countless investment projects have been completed, and we used the period of low traffic for developments that would have been difficult to implement during normal traffic conditions. A renewed and modern environment awaits the return of passengers, thanks to last year’s infrastructural, capacity expansion and digital developments. Passengers can be assured that the airport is safe from an epidemiological perspective – the health measures applied by Budapest Airport were also certified by international airport and airline organizations ACI and EASA in 2020.”