Tourism agency head shared when Transatlantic flights could return to Budapest

Zoltán Guller, the president of the directorate of the Hungarian Tourism Agency (MTÜ) talked about the possible return of Transatlantic flights to Budapest in a press conference.

According to Budflyer, a Hungarian travel news Facebook page, Mr Guller said he hoped the state acquisition of Budapest Airport would happen soon. Afterwards, he expects a considerable extension in the airport’s air traffic. As a result, Transatlantic flights may return in 2025 with North American routes.

Budapest is one of the few Central European capitals which do not have a direct air connection to the United States or Canada. In Romania, HySky announced they would launch direct flights between Bucharest and New York. Furthermore, they will begin to operate flights from Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca) and Chișinău, Moldova, to Bucharest to connect more potential passengers with their Transatlantic flights.

Meanwhile, Hungary was not able to establish direct flights to the USA despite the hundreds of thousands of Hungarians living there and the fact that before the COVID pandemic, regular flights carried passengers between Budapest and American metropolises like Chicago and New York.

Experts believe that is because of the conflicts between the Orbán cabinet and the Biden-led Washington administration. For example, the USA unilaterally terminated a taxation agreement and introduced restrictions concerning Hungarian passport holders last year.

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The first Transatlantic direct flights from 2024-2025

2025 may mark a change in that, Zoltán Guller said yesterday.

According to the Világgazdaság, despite the non-existent direct connection, the number of American tourists in Hungary grew by 30% in 2023 compared to COVID-19-hit 2022. However, that rise is incomparable with the skyrocketing number of Chinese tourists in Hungary. That rate was 400% since the Beijing-Budapest flight started last April. The same trend applies to South Korea, from where the increase reached 300%.

Guller said 2024 would see an identical flight number at Budapest Airport as 2019. Furthermore, the airport’s state acquisition will better the position of the Hungarian tourism sector. Interestingly, he suggested that the first three contracts concerning the new flights might be signed in 2024.

László Könnyid, the newly-appointed CEO of the MTÜ, said that Budapest would appear again on the flight map of Europe in 2025.