These Budapest flight tickets just got a lot cheaper

Hungarians living in the northwestern part of the country are in an exquisite situation when it comes to travel by flight. They can choose between three international airports which are all in the travel range of just 2-3 hours maximum. These are Schwechat Airport in Vienna, M. R. Štefánik Airport Bratislava and Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport.

Last month the journalists at Pénzcentrum cross-referenced the prices of flights between Vienna and Budapest airports. They found that in many cases, choosing the Austrian counterpart is a cheaper solution. This time they did the same comparison of costs of air trips between Bratislava and Budapest airports. Throughout their research, they compared the prices of retour flights to 100 different destinations in the month of July 2023, with usually a week passing between the two trips with the help of Skyscanner.

They not only received the answers to their original question but also discovered something surprising. The prices of several flights departing from Liszt Ferenc International have actually dropped throughout the month, Pénzcentrum reports.

Cheaper than Bratislava

Unlike in Vienna, the flights departing from the Slovak capital tended to be more expensive than the ones leaving from Budapest. In 70-80 percent of cases examined, departing from Hungary was a more economical choice. However, there were some exceptions. For example, the tickets to cities such as Zagreb (Croatia), Dusseldorf (Germany), and Rotterdam (Netherlands) were considerably cheaper from Bratislava.

Other destinations, however, including Athens (Greece), Nice (France), and Burgas (Bulgaria) cost a lot more. One explanation could be the fact that Bratislava airport is way smaller than its Austrian and Hungarian counterparts. It only has one terminal, unlike Schwechat (3) or Liszt Ferenc (2). Even though it is the largest airport in Slovakia, it comes nowhere close to its competitors in the region. In 2022, Vienna Airport had 23.7 million passengers, Budapest Airport was visited by 12.2 million people, while Bratislava Airport was only used by 1.4 million travellers.

Reduced flight prices at Budapest Airport

In the one month that passed between the making of the two comparison statistics, the researchers noticed something odd. The prices of many of the flights they examined departing from Budapest had dropped, in some cases exponentially. For example, the cost of a flight to Catania (Italy) decreased by 80 euros, while the one to Reus (Spain) saw a reduction of 100 euros. Other destinations worth mentioning include Rhodes (Greece, EUR -60), Palermo (Italy, EUR -40) and Varna (Bulgaria, EUR -40).

This further debunks the theory that the sooner one buys their passes, the cheaper it is. The dynamic pricing of flight tickets is based on a supply-demand scale, which means that in certain situations, you can find tickets for pennies just a few days before departure.

Read also:

• Budapest airport receives prestigious international rating
• New British airline comes to Budapest

Source: Pénzcentrum