Budapest Airport reports busiest May on record

Budapest Airport handled more than 776,704 passengers last month, seeing its busiest month of May ever. Additionally the first five months of 2011 cumulative generated 3,163,412 passengers, another all time record. The airport saw an increase of 8.3% in passenger traffic over May 2010 and an increase of 13.1% year to date (January to May) compared to the same period last year. These results follow hard on the heels of strong first quarter results that were well ahead of both the EU average and Budapest’s peer airports within the central and eastern Europe region.

“These results are highly satisfying particularly as the market is growing well ahead of our projections,” said Kam Jandu, Director of Aviation. “The continued growth in passenger numbers demonstrates the attraction of our route network to business and leisure travellers alike. Strong performances from some of the major flag carriers, the low cost segment and cargo freighter traffic have all contributed to the growth, as has the launch of new routes by Qatar Airways, American Airlines (to New York) and jet2.com (to Edinburgh). We anticipate that the trend will continue for at least the next few months as more slots have been requested for summer 2011 than ever before at the airport. Early indications for the winter season also look promising and will galvanise our mission to be the best airport within the Central/Eastern European Region.”

The continued growth in passenger numbers underlines the need to maintain the ongoing development and investment programme at Budapest Airport. The recent opening of its stunning new SkyCourt terminal building linking terminals 2a and 2b has significantly increased the capacity of Terminal 2 to 8.5 million passengers per year. Further developments are proposed which will ultimately mean passenger traffic at the airport will be capable of reaching up to 20 million per year.