As of May 30th all flights arriving and departing from Budapest uses Ferihegy 2, or Liszt Ferenc International Airport Terminal 2 (A and B). The plans are to keep terminal 1 closed for 4-5 years until traffic reaches normal amount again (after the bankruptcy of Malév), and when traffic is back as usual terminal 1 will be opened up again.
The advantage of using Terminal 2 is the fact that you can enjoy the services at the Sky Court with much larger areas for shopping and services after check-in. The disadvantage is the fact that the terminal is located a bit (appx. 4km) further away from the city center.
Since the bankruptcy of Malev other companies are getting more and more popular. We all know that RyanAir launched flights to 32 destinations from Budapest after Malev went down, and several other companies also launch new routes. Earlier today I read that WizzAir will launch two new routes from Debrecen to Milan and to Eindhoven (in addition to their existing route from Debrecen to London Luton). From the official web page of Budapest Airport we also got the information today that Tap Portugal will add even more flights to their existing route between Budapest and Lisbon. Last year the company brought more than 50,000 passengers on this line and this year they will hopefully transport even more people with even more flights added. This means that there will be two flights leaving every Saturday from Budapest to Lisbon, instead of one earlier.
Not long ago someone asked us whether it is possible to fly directly from Budapest to Paphos in Cyprus, this beauty of a city where the summer lasts for around 8 months a year. But, unfortunately we can not help out with flights to Paphos, at least not direct ones. But, if you look around, it is possible to fly with KLM to Amsterdam, and there you can change flights and fly on to Paphos.
Earlier Malév had a route to Cyprus, but it was not to Paphos either, so that would not help out under any circumstances. But, if you would rather visit Israel instead, then the amount of flights between Budapest and Tel Aviv was raised earlier this week, so it looks like it will get easier to visit Israel as well! Good luck with your flight tickets and have a nice holiday!
Ferihegy 1, not long ago renamed to Liszt Ferenc International Airport Terminal 1, will close down probably by the end of April. Since the Hungarian Airline Malév turned bankrupt in the start of February 2012 there has been lots of empty space on Terminal 2, and due to this all traffic currently running on Liszt Ferenc International Airport Terminal 1 will be moved over to Terminal 2 by the end of April 2012.
Just some days after Malév turned bankrupt RyanAir launched flights to more than 30 destinations from Budapest, and since then WizzAir has also increased their amount of flights from Budapest. Besides this Volotea will also launch a new direct flight between Budapest and Venice, so things are happening. But, still, the drastic change in amount of flights and passengers still force the managament at Liszt Ferenc International Airport to close down terminal 1 and move all traffic to terminal 2.
Considering the fact that the new Sky Court opened in the autumn of 2011, which was a big investment, improving the shopping, restaurant and all facilities at the Terminal 2, this will also serve as a great bonus for all the people who have been using Terminal 1 so far, which is utterly small and incredibly boring with nothing to do between the time of check-in and take-off. Therefore for people coming with no-frills airlines, this is a bonus. For those coming with RyanAir arrivals has anyway been to Terminal 2, but for the rest coming with WizzAir, EasyJet, AirBerlin, Norwegian and so on, this is a good stuff.
Still for the sake of tourism in Hungary we hope that the amount of passengers and travellers coming to Budapest and Hungary will increase rapidly, and that the management of Budapest Airport will be forced to open Terminal 1 again within shortly due to the large amounts of people interested in our beautiful nation. RyanAir proudly claim that they will bring 2 million passengers to and from Hungary already in their first year, and if it should turn out that way, it might be that terminal 1 will have be opened up again already in 2013!
Ferihegy 1 will be closed down by the end of April
As we wrote earlier this week Malev turned bankrupt, and all their flights have been cancelled. Who knows better than anyone to use such a situation for their own advantage than Ryanair? Just a few hours later they announced their plans to launch 31 new routes from Budapest within the coming months. Crazy good news for Hungarians who like to fly cheap to a whole lot of destinations. They also try with this to get former Malev workers join their forces expanding their work in Hungary.
Here comes the full list of destinations and when they are planing to launch the new routes (and estimated prices):
It is time to fly again, though we do not really like Ryanair, this will for sure make it easier to travel from Budapest other nations, and of course to fly to Budapest from other destinations!
February 8 update:
Malev is history, and no flights are departing/arriving. So if you have a Malev flight booked, find out what is on with your ticket and prepare for changes to happen. Due to this, Ryanair has recently launched 31 new flights from Budapest.
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Have we arrived to the point were the Hungarian Airline Malev is turning history? They have been frequently in the media lately due to financial problems, and today they have cancelled all flights. So, passengers left in Budapest might have problems returning back home with the planned Malev flight, and tourists arriving might be in danger of not coming to Budapest at all.
So far all information is that all Malev flights are cancelled today (February 3rd), but we will follow the case and come with more information as soon as we have more information and know more what will happen in the future!
