Budapest Airport continued its dynamic development program called bud:2020 earmarking 50 billion HUF (160 m Euro)for upgrading and extending the airport.

2017 was an excellent year in aviation in all respects. 125 destinations in 45 countries were directly accessible from Budapest with 44 airlines, representing the most colorful offer ever.

Not only new flights were launched, but seat capacity was also increased on existing routes. New service providers entered the market, and existing ones introduced larger aircraft or increased their flight frequencies.

Budapest Airport was managing a number of development projects in 2017, including one of the flagship projects of the bud:2020 development program, the new Pier B.

Physical construction of the pier commenced at the beginning of last year, and it is scheduled for completion during the summer season this year. Next to Terminal 1, two new logistics centers were handed over to TNT and DHL Express. A thousand new parking spaces were added to airport car parks which now have a combined capacity of 4 700 cars. 

After terminal 2A, the number of check-in desks was also increased in T2B where 11 new desks were installed together with a 400-square-meter additional passenger area.

The reconstruction also affected the airside area of the terminal, as most of the shops and the passenger flows had to be redesigned there. New equipment of security screening were introduced, including brand-new body scanners.

Areas used by aircraft were also improved: a new taxiway was built, and the pavement was refurbished on Runway 1 on a length of 900 meters.

One of the most modern airport crash-tenders, a new Rosenbauer Panther fire truck was commissioned (with a price tag of HUF 250 million/800.000 euros), joining the already impressive fleet of fire engines at the airport.

Digital services available for passengers were also enhanced last year. Just before Christmas, Budapest Airport launched its free WiFi service with significantly increased capacity, which resulted in a ten-fold increase of its user capacity.

In addition, the airport redesigned its website in line with the continuously changing traveling habits and demand for information.

“We are very proud of Budapest belonging to the top league of European airports with regards to growth rate of traffic. With a remarkable 14.5 % growth in 2017 Budapest Airport is more than twice higher than the EU average.” said Jost Lammers, CEO of Budapest Airport.

He added, “We also continue our efforts in 2018 and will be offering Hungarian and international passengers high-quality services and several new routes including four North-American flights at the same time during the summer season.”

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