"The battle to acquire airline passengers from Budapest in the wake of last week’s demise of Malev, the former flag carrier, took a strange turn on Tuesday, when the airport and low-cost airline Ryanair clashed over the availability of flight slots. Ryanair are selling the flights to the public. Budapest airport say they haven’t agreed terms. Result: a big row. " wrote Kester Eddy on FT.com

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Budapest Airport continued to comment:

Firstly, it is very clear that Ryanair wishes to commence services in the coming days from Budapest Airport. In parallel to this, there have been ongoing discussions between Budapest Airport and Ryanair with a view to discussing the start up of operations and some commercial issues.

However, we do not comment on any discussions between the airport and any airline customers without the prior agreement of the customer, in this case Ryanair. Our charges and incentive structure are in the public domain and are available to any eligible airline, including Ryanair and we welcome any new flights they wish to commence now or in the future from Budapest Airport.

Slot co-ordination is not in the competence of Budapest Airport therefore of course we cannot comment regarding who does or does not have a slot. What I can clearly state, is that due to the vacuum left by the collapse Malév last week, we can generally accept all requests when it comes to operational matters.

In a crisis situation, we will take whatever action is required to  accommodate airlines wishes to fly from Budapest. I would advise passengers that any airline that is on sale including Ryanair, intend to fly until such a time they decide differently.”

Budapest Airport will be issuing a further statement in the next 24 hours to advise passengers as to which airlines have announced services since the collapse of Malév, including details about Ryanair."

Source: Budapest Airport

Read the full FT.com article by clicking here