Best of Budapest & Hungary

Following the record-breaking year of 2024, passenger traffic at Ferenc Liszt International Airport has continued to increase steadily this year. In January, nearly 1.3 million passengers were served and in February, which is usually a less busy period, 1.2 million passengers used the airport, while in March, 1,468,754 passengers passed through Ferenc Liszt International Airport. The third-month figure is 13.3% higher than in the same period last year. This means that Budapest Airport closed the first quarter with more than 4 million passengers served, which is 15.5% more than in the first three months of last year.

    The most popular cities in March were London, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Paris and Milan.

    The steady upward trend is supported by Hungary’s touristic appeal, the extensive airline partner network of Budapest Airport and VINCI Airports, the diversification-based airline development strategy and the strategic location of the airport. In the summer schedule, Budapest Airport has announced eleven new flights, which, together with frequency increases to existing destinations, contributes to further growth in tourism and business travel. The new airline development strategy allows passengers to choose the service that best suits them on the selected route, and the summer schedule offers more capacity than ever before, with 13.8 million seats available.

    Budapest Airport continues to provide a high level of service in the face of growing passenger traffic, as evidenced by two recent awards: the airport won the Skytrax “Best Airport in Eastern Europe” award for the 12th consecutive time this year, and in March, it received ACI’s “Best Airport in Europe” award in the category of airports handling 15-25 million passengers. The value of both awards is further increased by the fact that they were bestowed on Budapest Airport based on passenger feedback and comprehensive surveys.

   Leading the region in cargo volumes handled, with quarterly growth over 50%

   Hungarian air cargo had its strongest month in its history in March 2025; the 36,781 tons of cargo handled in the third month of the year exceeded the result of March last year by 55.1%, surpassing the previous record-breaking month of November 2024, when 31,121 tons of cargo were handled at the gateway to Hungary.

    The more than one-and-a-half-fold increase and the new record quarterly result means 94,490 tons handled from January to March, which is a 52.6% increase from the same period last year and the strongest quarterly cargo volume ever. Although this three-monthly result is higher than the total annual volume of air freight carried ten years ago, the number of cargo flights has increased by only 28.6% since that period, i.e. less than 3% per year. This sustainable growth is due to the higher capacity and better load factor of dedicated cargo flights, as well as a significant increase in the volume of belly cargo carried on long-haul passenger flights.

   The growth is driven by the fact that Budapest Airport has become one of the leading air cargo hubs in Central and Eastern Europe in recent years. In general, there is a trend for airlines to expand their cargo capacities between cargo hubs in Europe and the Middle East. This trend can also be observed in Budapest, and the growth in the volume of cargo handled is further reinforced by the fact that Budapest Airport now has direct dedicated cargo or belly cargo connections to Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Zhengzhou, Chengdu, X’ian, Ezhou, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Ningbo, Guangzhou and Seoul.