Will Hungarian soldiers solve the problem of delayed planes in Hungary?

Hungary struggles with labour shortages in many areas, and it seems the Hungarian government would solve the shortage of air controllers with soldiers. That would not be a surprise since the Orbán cabinet would end teacher and driving instructor shortage with Hungarian soldiers as well.

Are Hungarian air traffic controllers responsible for delays?

As we wrote HERE, the Hungarian government is to fine airlines causing delays. Gergely Gulyás, the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, talked about heavy, significant damage-causing fines for airline delays on a Monday government press briefing. Gulyás said that airlines are responsible for 2/3rd of the delays, while air controllers, ground handling services, and the weather bear responsibility for 1/4th.

Gulyás mentioned the air controller shortage at the press briefing. He said they increased the number of employees, but that was not enough. Therefore, he asked all participants of the Hungarian air traffic sector to compile an action plan, hvg.hu wrote.

Labour shortage at HungaroControl

Hungary was the first in Europe to allow planes to use airspace 24/7, skyrocketing air traffic in Hungary’s airspace. But after the Russian annexation of Crimea (2014) and their full-scale attack against Ukraine (2022), traffic became too heavy above Hungary. And HungaroControl could not keep up with that immense increase.

An insider said there could be 4 thousand planes over Hungary on an average day in July. Theoretically, that is not unmanageable for HungaroControl. But in practice, the labour shortage at the company can only keep 6 out of 8 air traffic sectors open. Furthermore, they cannot operate all of those continuously.