Budapest Airport taking off: transatlantic flights, terminal 3 and more!

In a recent interview Kam Jandu, the CEO of Budapest Airport talked about the airgate’s plans and projections based on previous year’s data. The future is looking bright for Budapest Airport!

To put it shortly, the airport ended 2023 with flying colors, even surpassing the projections they had made beforehand. Passenger numbers exceeded 14.7 million, reaching 91% of pre-pandemic levels. The cargo volume was above 200,000 tons, indicating a 50% growth compared to 2019. The airport anticipates nearly 17 million passengers this year and 18.5 million for 2025. However, the airport is nearing its limit of capacity, which is why infrastructural expansion is crucial. Here’s what we found out about the future plans regarding the expansion.

Transatlantic flights

Kam Jandu, CEO of Budapest Airport, has talked about the current capacity of the airport and projections based on the numbers of 2023. He highlighted that as of now, a significant portion of incoming traffic is from various European cities as well as Asian regions. He said the airport is experiencing a constant traffic from Seoul, Dubai and Doha, since these popular routes have only shut down for a few months during the COVID pandemic.

There are planned flights to other Asian regions too. Especially with Hungary’s current business plans, China plays a prominent role in future ideas. Another important planned route he highlighted was a direct flight to India, where the significant market demand would justify connection. He also mentioned the expansion of direct flights to the Arab Peninsula, where Saudi Arabia has ambitious tourism plans for the coming years.

One of the main questions in this regard was the reconnection of Budapest and North America to which Kam Jandu commented the hardships that the global airline supply chain faces. He added that this severly slows the reopening of several transatlantic air channels. He hopes that the recovery in air connections will soon be true to the North American flights too.

Third Terminal

In another segment of the interview with airportal.hu, Kam Jandu talked about the foreseeable infrastructural expansion of the airport. He said the airport is already nearing its capacity and based on the current numbers, it will most likely exceed the limit by 2025. There are already plans for the construction of a Terminal 3, which would be twice as big as Terminal 2. However, construction would take around 6 long years which the airport just doesn’t have. This is why they plan to reopen Terminal 1 to provide the extra capacity, until Terminal 3 can open. The modernisation of Terminal 1 and the addition of the planned new pier could be completed in about two years, but the permitting process has slowed down construction.

The situation is made harder by the current negotiations around the airport. It slows the process, which is hardly ideal. Once Terminal 2 reaches its maximum capacity, they will have to artificially stop traffic, since otherwise the provided service quality would greatly degrade. This outcome should be avoided, especially considering the detrimental effects it would have on the country’s economy, Kam Jandu says.

Coming developments

Apart from the major long term projects, there are some “smaller'” scale expansions planned for the airport as well. The airport plans to achieve a net zero carbon emission accreditation by 2035. Since 1 January 2023, the company sources electricity exclusively from renewable sources for both its operations and airport partners.

There are plans to make significant strides towards the net zero goal in 2024. A more environment friendly waste management and the implementation of a geothermal power plant are also on the agenda. What is more, this year, they are planning the construction of a solar farm. The expansion of e-charging stations and the gradual transition into a fully electric vehicle fleet is already in progress.

This could also interest you: