More frequent flights from Budapest to important Asian destinations
There are more and more destinations available from the Hungarian capital. Now, Shanghai Airlines is expanding its services by opening a new route to Budapest. Flights from Ningbo to Budapest and back are available this summer. Further expansion is on the agenda.
As Airportal has reported, Budapest Airport and Shanghai Airlines are working on operating more flights between Hungary and China. At some point, 10 flights per week will be available between the two countries. The new destination added to the network is Ningbo. The first scheduled Ningbo–Budapest flight took off last night. You can read about the welcome ceremony HERE.
Flights to Ningbo
The city of Ningbo is inhabited by roughly 9.4 million people and is located in the Yangtze Delta region, in the north-eastern part of Zhejiang province in China. The flights to Ningbo were opened in two phases. As a test run, two pairs of charter flights tested the route between Ningbo and the Hungarian capital on the 29th of May and the 5th of June.
In the second phase, one flight every Monday operated on this route. From the 12th of June, this became a regular scheduled flight. The flight lands in Budapest at 9:40 PM and departs to Ningbo at 11:55 PM. If everything goes according to plans, there will be flights scheduled on Thursdays as well. This would mean two flights a week to the Chinese destination.
Other flights to China
There are flights available from Budapest to other Chinese destinations as well. Ningbo is the fourth city that will be reachable via direct flight from the Hungarian capital. Air China has been operating flights to Bejing, the Chinese capital, since the 19th of June. In addition to that, you can also travel to Chongqing thanks to Air China. Shanghai Airlines has been providing flights to Shanghai, and now to Ningbo too.
From July, there will be 10 scheduled flights connecting the Hungarian capital to above-mentioned Chinese destinations. This number will be nearing the regional pre-pandemic record of 13 weekly flights a week. Shanghai Airlines will be operating Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on its two routes. Four classes will be available on these flights; first class, business class, premium tourist class and regular tourist class.
The importance of flights between Hungary and China
According to Balázs Bogáts, Chief Commercial Officer of Budapest Airport, there is a high demand of flights connecting Hungary and China. Some people go on holidays, while others travel for business purposes. The two countries have a great economic partnership; thus it is important to have a sufficient number of flights available. This year, there have been less flights compared to the pre-pandemic period. Having said that, in the first quarter, more than 20,000 passengers booked flights connecting the two countries.