It will become a great deal more inconvenient to reach Budapest Airport, as fury mounts over a new rule. We updated our article with Budapest Airport’s reaction.
Reaching Budapest Airport by taxi: new rules spark fury
Budapest Airport Zrt., the company operating Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport, will abolish from 3 August 2026 the five-minute free transit allowed to Budapest taxis through the car parks on its premises, the Budapest Taxi Association said in a statement sent to MTI on Thursday, adding that the operator should suspend the measure until a solution acceptable to all can be found.
In practice, the association said, scrapping the five-minute free passage would mean taxis having to pay parking fees every time they drop off or pick up passengers. It warned that, as a result of Budapest Airport Zrt.’s decision, a significant number of cabs would only be able to set passengers down and collect them at the taxi rank 1,100 metres from the terminal building’s main entrance.
Will the Magyar government intervene?
The taxi organisation told the operator that immediate implementation of the change would lead to a severe deterioration in service quality, and on that basis asked for the decision to be suspended until a suitable solution for all parties could be worked out. Budapest Airport rejected the request for a delay, the association said.
In its statement, the Budapest Taxi Association urged the government, which holds an 80 per cent stake in Budapest Airport, to call on the airport operator to suspend implementation until the necessary legislative, regulatory and technical changes have been made to allow the transition.
Update: Budapest Airport operator rejects taxi association’s requests, open for dialogue
According to Budapest Airport, scrapping the five-minute free entry for taxis registered in Budapest from August is intended to create a level playing field among service providers. The operator said local taxis had until now enjoyed a privileged position, as all other licensed passenger carriers had already been able to use the area for a fee, the Hungarian news agency wrote.
Budapest Airport is introducing a practice already in use at several international airports, aimed at ensuring a more transparent and fairer sharing of the costs of infrastructure use. It says the move should also help to optimise capacity, improve traffic management and enhance passenger safety. The operator added that the system would not mean extra costs for taxi drivers, as it waited for an increase in the city’s base fare to offset the airport access charge.
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Taxi drivers, however, argue that the change would impose a payment obligation on every pick-up and drop-off, and that a significant share of cabs would only be able to collect or set down passengers at the taxi rank, some 1,100 metres from the terminal’s main entrance. The Budapest Taxi Association said this could seriously damage service standards and has called for the suspension of the change. Budapest Airport refused, but indicated that it was open to fine-tuning the system at a later stage.
The operator stressed that one five-minute free entry per day will still be available for airport car parks, and that a separate pick-up point and other short-stay, free parking options will also remain in place.
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It’s not clear to me what’s going on. It appears that all taxis remain able to collect and drop-off passengers in exchange for the standard 800 Ft. charge levied by the airport. I further understand from another article that taxi fares are changing and this 800 Ft. is going to be added to all journeys that start or finish at the airport, which is fair if the drivers are now subject to this charge. This is over and above the other fare increases which apply to all hires, not just airport trips.
I don’t understand why some taxis believe they’ll have to use a ‘rank’ that’s 1100m from the terminal building, a distance so large it negates the benefit of using a taxi in the first place. I’ve never even seen this remote rank, much less used it. Has anyone here?
One could write a book about the taxi shenanigans at the airport since 1990.
If one can afford to fly, it should not matter. Going in and out of the country a couple of times a year, I never concern myself of cost and always tip most generously for any services. That said, it should compensate for additional cost to the provider. Something always has to happen to create panic and a lot of hoopla.