More direct flights: New airline may appear in Budapest soon

China Southern Airlines, one of China’s largest airlines, may launch a direct flight between China and Budapest in Hungary next year. The carrier has already submitted the necessary applications.

China Southern Airlines, one of China’s largest airlines, has submitted an application to the Civil Aviation Administration of China to open a direct flight on the Urumqi-Budapest route, Budflyer reports. The target date for the launch of the direct service is March 2024, according to the submitted licence application list. The route is planned to be served by 4 flights per week.

According to the Hungarian aviation news portal Budflyer, it is worth knowing that Urumqi is a city of three million inhabitants and an administrative centre in China. It is close to the Kazakh and Kyrgyz borders. It is the capital of the country’s westernmost and largest province, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The city became a stop on the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty and developed into a major economic and cultural centre during the Qing Dynasty.

The plan to launch a direct flight between the two cities is not new: China Southern had already announced similar plans in 2018. However, then, it would have connected the city of Guangzhou with the Hungarian capital in addition to Urumqi.

Due to the excellent diplomatic and trade relations between Hungary and China, Budapest has recently attracted an outstanding number of Chinese flights both in the region and in the EU. This summer’s schedule includes a total of 10 weekly passenger flights between the two countries operated by Air China and Shanghai Airlines, a subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines.

However, the offer has not yet reached its pre-Covid-19 status, as the cities of Xian and Chengdu have not yet been reintegrated into the network. Experts are working to ensure that this happens as soon as possible.

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