Budapest’s airport shuttle bus 100E will resume service on Monday, Budapest transport authority BKK said on Friday.
To speed up the journey, buses running from Deak Ferenc Square to Liszt Ferenc International Airport will stop only at Kalvin Square, BKK said in a statement. However, the service running from the airport to the city centre will also stop at Astoria to drop passengers off. The airport shuttle bus single ticket is valid for a single journey.
Bus 100E operates between Deák Ferenc Square and Liszt Ferenc International Airport from 7am to 9pm.
As we reported before, PM Viktor Orbán’s cabinet would like to start negotiations to “reverse” the “failed” privatisation of Budapest Airport. He would like to buy it back for the state because it is one of the most important elements of developing the economy and tourism. Magyar Nemzet wrote weeks ago that the Hungarian government aims to
obtain majority holding over Budapest’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport.
The airport is currently run by Budapest Airport, which Ferenc Gyurcsány’s government sold in 2005 to ease the budget crisis. The 75-year-long concession contract provided strong protection for the investors. For example, all income from airport services belong to them, Magyar Nemzet says. The share of the state from the airport’s revenue is only 0.5 pc. The government tried to buy the majority holding of Budapest Airport after 2010 several times, but they were not successful. In 2011, the state utilised its purchase option over a 25 pc share segment.
According to Magyar Nemzet, the profit-oriented capital funds that own the majority of Budapest Airport’s stocks might be interested in selling their packages since the traffic at the airport decreased significantly because of the epidemic. In 2019, there were 16 million passengers, while this number was only 3.8 million in 2020.
On June 6, László Palkovics, minister of innovation and technology, said to Vasarnap.hu that the government is
ready to make a generous offer for the airport.
If they do not succeed they will do everything to obtain majority as soon as possible. He added that tourism is one of the most important sectors in Hungary and the state would not only like to be a regulator but also the owner of the most important airport of Hungary.
Source: MTI, Daily News Hungary
