Cheerful: New Italian F&B bar opens, Schengen expansion changes arrivals at Budapest Airport

Romania and Bulgaria partially joined the Schengen Zone today. As a result, plane arrivals at Budapest Airport will change.

From today on, border control will cease for commuters on air and sea routes. According to Budflyer, a Hungarian air travel news outlet, Bucharest, Târgu Mureș (Marosvásárhely), Cluj-Napoca (Kolozsvár), Brașov (Brassó), Sofia and Burgas flights will arrive at Terminal 2A. That is because authorities will not check the travel documents of Romanian nationals coming from or going to a Schengen Zone country. They will only need a security check before boarding.

Photo: Budapest Airport/FB

According to Budflyer, a new Italian F&B bar will open at Budapest Airport’s Terminal 2A. Bottega Prosecco aims to share the exquisite wines of Italy with some authentic local dishes, providing a traditional Italian lifestyle experience to everybody. They are present at several airports, hotels and malls in Europe.

Before, they opened bars in Dubai, Istanbul, Venice, Bologna and Rome with a similar concept.

Hungary supports Romania’s, and Bulgaria’s Schengen Zone accession

We wrote multiple times that Hungary is a supporter of Romania’s and Bulgaria’s full membership of the Schengen Zone. However, there are influential adversaries of the project in the Schengen Zone. Austria is one of the opponents. Vienna worries about the many Romanian potential jobseekers who would flood Austria’s labour market if visa-free travel was granted.

Photo: Creative Commons

According to Maszol, a Hungarian newspaper operating in Romania, in 2023, 23 million passengers arrived at the airports of Romania. The number of flights landing and taking off exceeded 160 thousand. 66% of the latter were flights commuting within the Schengen Zone.

Transtelex.ro wrote that Romanian PM Marcel Ciolacu highlighted in a speech in Timișoara (Temesvár) that the Romanian government had a plan for full membership in the Schengen Zone until the end of 2024. Ciolacu claimed in his speech that Romania’s partial Schengen accession was a victory.

Photo: FB/Magyar Rendőrség

Thanks to the Schengen Zone, 400 million citizens can travel visa-free in Europe.

Read also:

• New era for investors: Golden Visa Law enters into force in Hungary – Read more HERE
• Schengen in serious trouble: strict control prolonged at Hungarian border again – Details in THIS article