Regular and affordable daily flights connecting Hungarian towns: dream or reality?

If you take a glimpse at the information board about the departing and arriving flights to Budapest’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport, you can see only foreign destinations. But that was not the situation in the 1950s and 1960s. Travelling by plane was not cheap then, but it was only a bit more expensive than taking the train. Thus, many flew between Hungarian towns, even a well-known Hungarian criminal, “Repülős Gizi” (“Aviator Gizi”).

According to Blikk, the first domestic flight took off in 1946, and MALÉV, Hungary’s flag carrier between 1946 and 2012, became popular because of them. Read about MALÉV’s history HERE. In the first year, the LI-2 type planes having 21 seats, carried almost 2,000 passengers from Budapest to Debrecen and Szombathely and vice versa. With time, the system expanded, and we could travel to Békéscsaba, Szeged, Siófok, Nagykanizsa and Nyíregyháza.

However, travelling was expensive then. A plane ticket to Debrecen cost HUF 110, which was 1/3rd of an average salary. A train ticket cost almost that much as well, so flying was just a bit more expensive than travelling by train, but it was quicker too.

When the first domestic flight landed in Debrecen, it was welcomed with the Hungarian national anthem and a celebration party. The jet’s speed reached 240 km/h 250-500m high. The travel time to the second biggest settlement of Hungary took just 55 minutes, and planes took off twice a day. Szombathely could be reached in only 50 minutes. One of the legendary LI-2-type planes is still operable and takes off each year on different airshows.

Domestic flights preparing to take off at Ferihegy in 1956. Source: Fortepan/UVATERV

Well-known criminal using domestic flights?

Interestingly, the internal flights created a uniqe crime “type”. Repülős Gizi (“Aviator Gizi”) spent 17 years in prison for hundreds of thefts. Gizella Bodnár, who graduated as a teacher, received her nickname because police found a plane ticket in her pocket when they arrested her. Therefore, legend has it she flew daily to different cities to steal from people. In the evening, she returned to Budapest with the loot. However, she denied that legend thereafter.

The heyday of domestic flights was over in the late-1960s. That is because more and more people bought a car by then, so the luxury of the future was driving instead of flying. The last scheduled domestic flight took off in 1969. Currently, the CEO of Aeroexpress, aiming to connect towns and cities in the Carpathian Basin, sees no options for domestic flights because of the developing railway and motorway connections. Read more about Aeroexpress’ ambitious plans HERE.