He declared several times that the so-called environmental protection taxes – “eco tax”, as the Hungarian government has now renamed its burden on airlines – particularly harm the aviation industry, and Hungary’s tourism sector.

He said within a few years 50%, or 2 million, more passengers would come to Budapest without it.

If Hungary were to abolish the “idiotic” tax, it would receive much more tax revenue from the increased tourism than it can collect from the airlines, he argued.

O’Leary claimed that Ryanair will have more passengers in Budapest than Wizz Air, saying “We are eating into their market share in Hungary, Austria, Poland, and Italy”.

The number of Ryanair passengers moving through Budapest will reach 4 million this year, after the occupancy ratio was 92-94% in the last months of 2022, he forecast.

O’Leary spoke of Budapest as the company’s best-performing European winter destination compared to the pre-Covid period, despite the extra tax.

Ryanair offers 56 routes from Budapest in its summer timetable, essentially an unchanged capacity, as it will still have eight planes stationed here, website 24 observes.