Budapest Airport sets sights on North American, Indian, and Southeast Asian routes

4 Comments

1. 21 weekly flights to 7 Chinese cities but zero to cities like New York and Toronto in North America. Why? I’ve been reading about “negotiations” on this for years now. Something is acting as an obstacle and it can’t be a lack of passenger demand. I’m tired of having to get connecting flights from a hub airport to get to Budapest from Toronto for the last I think seven or eight years. I would definitely be coming more frequently for shorter stays if I could get non-stop service. The other direct routes that I am surprised that don’t exist is Budapest to Belgrade or Zagreb. I’ve done the long bus ride from Zagreb a few times.

2. Larry, I think it’s a combination of factors. Budapest isn’t a major business destination and its tourism traffic is mainly in summer due to the climate meaning the business case can be difficult. Multiple US and Canadian carriers tried to make the route work but none lasted. Something Budapest lacks that can’t be said for other cities of equivalent size in the region is a sufficiently wealthy catchment area that can afford to travel to the US for leisure. North America is far too expensive for most Hungarians, especially in the last few years. Heck, it’s too expensive for most Brits too, so Hungarians don’t stand a chance unless they’re happy to subsist on bread and water. Prague and Vienna are a year-round draw for tourists, the latter is far more of a business destination and the locals in and around both are better able to afford to visit the US or Canada.

   I’m mystified why Hungary didn’t invest in creating a new national airline after Malev went bust in 2012 considering the extent they’ll go to in order to embellish national pride. A new Malev could probably make the route work year-round by dint of being able to offer transfer opportunities in Budapest. If an airline isn’t a symbol of national sovereignity then I don’t know what is. Even Bulgaria retains a national carrier.

3. Londonsteve that is a reasonable explanation but it’s not just Hungarians going to North America but Hungarians and others in North America going to Hungary. Also, A lot of people over here buy tickets for family back in Hungary to visit in the US and Canada. It may be expensive in North America but that is not an issue if you are visiting family. There have been seasonal non-stop charter flights by Canadian carrier Air Transat to Zagreb for years now. They could easily do the same with Budapest and Air Canada’s discount subsidiary Rouge did have seasonal service to Budapest years ago but that ended a long time ago and never came back despite rumours in the press. I understand year round service might not work but seasonal definitely would. I guess Budapest does not generate enough traffic to become a hub airport like Warsaw for example.

   • The issue as I see it with seasonal versus year-round is that whereas you can allocate an airframe for a year-round route, if it’s seasonal it’s in competition with other seasonal routes which might be more profitable for the carrier and therefore aircraft availability is harder. There are a ton of routes that perform well during a defined window, e.g. the Carribbean in winter. I agree there’s money to be made even just flying a late-spring to early-autumn operation, the question is if the margins are the equal of other obvious options open to a carrier when deploying airframes that aren’t busy flying year-round routes. It’s a delicate balancing act and there’s a worldwide shortage of fuel efficient long haul aircraft at the moment due to many older planes having been retired during Covid while there are serious delays to the 777X programme which were anticipated as their replacement. There’s also a shortage of pilots with the necessary experience to fly long haul.

     At the end of the day a combination of political will and financial guarantees mean that a BUD-JFK flight will materialise in the near future although we may be waiting a while yet before any direct services to Canada become available. I’m not sure if transiting in NY versus any of the European hubs is an improvement on your experience flying from Canada.