Budapest Airport results show strong first quarter

An encouraging March has put Budapest Airport passenger figures up by almost 8% for the first quarter when compared with the same period last year (January to March). This is well ahead of both the EU average and Budapest’s peer airports within the central and eastern Europe region. The airport also reports a positive increase in traffic movements, representing an excellent performance after several months in decline

“We are very pleased with the first quarter results,” said Kam Jandu, Director of Aviation. “The full service sector is showing the largest increase of almost 20% with very strong performance from some of the major flag carriers, the low cost segment is up over 6% and cargo freighter traffic is up by almost 5%. We anticipate an even better performance from April onwards as more slots have been requested for summer 2011 than ever before at the airport, underpinned by the recent new routes launched by Qatar Airways, American Airlines and jet2.com plus the planned ones from Air Baltic (Riga), Air Italy Poland (Toronto) and SkyWork Airlines (Berne).

“The market is growing well ahead of our projections and we look forward to sharing this information with existing and potential airline partners at Routes Europe next week,” commented Patrick Bohl – Head of Airline Development & Strategy.

Budapest Airport will be participating at the sixth annual Routes Europe air service development forum from 8-10 May in Cagliari, Sardinia. Patrick Bohl will attend, together with Sándor Saly, Airline Development Manager and Eszter Almási, Airline Development Specialist. In addition to meeting with more than 120 airlines in the unique face-to-face airport-to-airline meeting halls, the team will be presenting the airport’s new B2B brochure and highlighting the ongoing development and investment at Budapest Airport, hard on the heels of the opening of its stunning new SkyCourt terminal which formally opened on March 27. BUD is also sponsoring the wifi and delegates bags at the three-day event.

With more than 3,000 route development meetings taking place, Routes Europe offers an unrivalled platform for airlines and airports to do business face to face with the key decision makers in the industry. The competition for air services and the economic benefits they bring has never been greater.