Malév Hungarian Airlines
Malév, one of the leading airlines of Central-East Europe, has built up enormous experience connecting the cities of West and East Europe.
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TriGránit To Build Airport For Budget Airlines |
The former Soviet airbase at Tököl, near Budapest could be turned into a modern airport serving budget airlines. According to TriGránit Rt’s proposal, transport of passengers, from and to the airport - about 40 kilometres from the city centre - will be arranged through hydrofoils
After two unsuccessful privatisation tenders last year, the State Privatisation and Asset Management Rt. (ÁPV) received six bids for Tököl airport in March. The bidders include real estate tycoon Sándor Demján’s company, TriGránit that earlier proposed to build an airport for budget airlines. According to sources, TriGránit plans to take passengers to the city by hydrofoils on the Danube. The journey would take 40–45 minutes.
Terminal Ferihegy I is too small to serve budget airlines, which served a total of 150,000 passengers in 12 months. (Total passenger traffic at Ferihegy exceeded 5 million last year.) As a result, the aeroplanes of WizzAir airline – led by former Malév CEO József Váradi – will have to use the more expensive Terminal II when it launches service in June. Bratislava-based SkyEurope also has to pay 30%–40% higher tariffs for using Terminal II.
The traffic of budget airlines in Budapest can grow tenfold in a few years. Budapest Airport Rt. plans to open the entire area of Terminal I for budget airlines in 2005. In order to cut costs, airlines opt for using more distant landing fields, as tariffs there are 60%–80% lower than those at central airports, Váradi said.
Tököl airport could be an optional landing field for budget airlines, in accordance with the National Tourism Development Strategy of the Economy and Transport Ministry. “On the long run it is essential to find an airport for budget airlines within a 70-kilometre radius of Budapest,” the ministry’s strategy said. However, the government is not ready to finance such an investment, confirmed Zoltán Székely, an official of the ministry.
Residents in the area are worried. The former Soviet airbase is in the middle of a residential area where 50,000 people live. “Resident could not tolerate more than 10-15 landings a day”, said Gábor Talabos, director of Master Sky Kft., which rents the airport until April 2005. The airport would not be profitable with such little traffic, as the necessary investment would be around 5 billion to 6 billion forints.
Source: HVG
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21.05.2004
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