Gone but not forgotten: Hungary saw 20 years of domestic flights

For more than 20 years, daily domestic flights operated between Budapest and several regional cities. The service began in 1946, with the last scheduled MALÉV domestic flight taking off on 15 March 1969.

After World War II, air travel in Hungary nearly came to a halt. However, domestic flights resumed on 15 October 1946. The operator was Maszovlet, a Soviet-Hungarian joint venture that used 21-seat LI-2 aircraft. The Soviet side provided the planes, while Hungary supplied the crew and ground services, according to PestBuda.

The primary reason for launching domestic flights was to ease the burden on the railway system, and ticket prices were set to match first-class train fares for the same routes.

Developments in the 1950s

From 1950, domestic flights operated from Ferihegy Airport after its opening. By the late 1950s, Maszovlet had transitioned into Malév, which replaced the ageing LI-2 aircraft with the more modern IL-14. The first IL-14 flight on a domestic route served Budapest—Debrecen in 1961, cutting travel time to just 40 minutes.

Despite these advancements, the introduction of IL-14 aircraft led to a reduction in domestic destinations. Smaller airports, such as those in Miskolc, Nyíregyháza, and Szeged, could not accommodate the new planes, forcing the suspension of flights to these locations.

The decline of domestic air travel

By the mid-1960s, domestic air travel had seen a significant decline in passenger numbers. Improvements in bus and rail services, coupled with the relatively high cost of air tickets, contributed to dwindling demand. By 1964, only Debrecen, Pécs, Szombathely, and Zalaegerszeg remained connected by regular flights.

By 1969, Malév had introduced more advanced IL-18 turboprops and jet aircraft, making domestic routes economically unsustainable. As a result, Malév discontinued scheduled domestic flights on 15 March 1969, focusing exclusively on international travel.

Although there have been attempts to revive domestic air travel in Hungary in recent decades, none have proved sustainable in the long run. With the development of high-speed rail, car travel, and regional airport infrastructure, domestic flights have largely become a thing of the past.

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