Budapest Airport welcomes Qatar Airways and its first direct flights from the Middle East.

Tuesday 18th January, 2011

Budapest Airport welcomed its first Middle Eastern scheduled carrier this week when Qatar Airways, flight number QR943, touched down yesterday (17 January) at 13.45. The Doha, Qatar based award-winning airline has launched four flights weekly between Qatar capital Doha and Hungarian capital, Budapest. The new schedule represents the airport’s first direct flights from the important Gulf region. Qatar Airways is also exploring the option of increasing frequency of flights and destinations, to and from the Central European aviation hub.

The Doha – Budapest (via Bucharest) schedules are:

Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays

Flight No. QR943 Depart Doha 0815 Arrive Budapest 1345
Flight No. QR944 Depart Budapest 1500 Arrive Doha 2355

Qatar’s Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker and Hungary’s Ambassador to Qatar H.E. Lá zló Szabó, were on the maiden Airbus A320 flight, along with a selection of international media and Qatar Airways executives. Al Baker and his delegation were greeted by Jost Lammers, Chief Executive Officer of Budapest Airport and Director of Aviation Kam Jandu. The aircraft was welcomed with a water cannon salute for the inaugural arrival, complemented by a ribbon and cake cutting ceremony to celebrate the new service. The airline’s arrival takes the total number of airlines serving the airport to 33.

Jost Lammers commented: “The start of Qatar Airways scheduled services to Budapest is a significant development in the positioning of Budapest Airport as an essential aviation hub in Central Europe. Until now local passengers wishing to travel to the Middle East or further on to Asia and Australia, have had to back-track to the major western European hubs. This new service to Doha increases the amount of destinations from Budapest, and further strengthens our strategic position regionally.”

The aircraft features 12 Business Class seats and up to 165 Economy Class seats. Lead in prices for the new service from Budapest to Bangkok begin at 648 Euros, to Kuala Lumpur at 591 Euros and to Melbourne at 1,120 Euros. “Qatar Airways has
already seen strong forward bookings for Budapest and we will be seriously considering boosting our operations in the near future as we acquire more aircraft,” said Qatar Airways CEO, Mr Al Baker.

Currently 20% of passengers travelling through Budapest Airport are from neighbouring countries. This is anticipated to increase with the launch of the Doha service. The new route is also likely to generate an increased interest in tourism to Budapest, one of Europe’s most visited cities.

“We have been talking with Middle Eastern airlines for some time and are extremely pleased that Qatar Airways, a renowned prestigious carrier, is the first to recognise the potential this region offers,” commented Lammers. For inbound tourism Qatar Airways’ timetable enables a viable four-day vacation in Budapest for those living and working in the Middle East. “We very much hope this will further raise the profile of our beautiful city,” continued Lammers.

Emerald Media appointed as external PR agency

With an active route development programme whilst they continue an ambitious seven year development plan, Budapest Airport’s management has appointed UK-based aviation PR specialist Emerald Media to support external PR into 2011. “We are an active, committed airport with exciting developments occurring this year and going forward, as such we wanted to bring in external support to raise our profile to the international aviation community,” said Kam Jandu, Director of Aviation at Budapest Airport. “Emerald came highly recommended from a number of sources and we like their can-do approach.”

Alison Chambers, Principal of Emerald Media said: “We are delighted to work with such a dynamic and ambitious airport management team that is going to have a lot to say this year. We are looking forward to helping them raise their profile in key aviation, travel and business titles."

About Budapest Airport:

In 2010 Budapest Airport served almost 8.2 million passengers through scheduled, charter and general aviation services.

Budapest Airport Zrt. owns and operates Ferihegy airport. This is a public private partnership with the Hungarian State holding 25% and the remaining 75 percent sitting in the hands of the German company HOCHTIEF AirPort, one of the world’s biggest independent airport managers and a further four financial investors: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Montreal; GIC Special Investments, Singapore; and KfW IPEX-Bank, Frankfurt. In July 2008, Aero Investment S.á.r.l. became a new shareholder.

Through its BUD Future project Budapest Airport aims to be the aviation hub of the CEE region. Leading projects include:

SkyCourt - a new centrally located building which, when open in March 2011, will link the existing terminals 2a and 2b. SkyCourt will double the commercial area of the terminals and provide a wide range of retail outlets, international brands and an improved food and beverage offering. The contemporary glass structure will also offer an impressive view of the apron and aims to provide passengers with a unique travel experience.
Cargo City – New on-airport cargo facilities will feature 120,000 sqm of cargo and logistics terminals designed for airlines, handlers and integrators.

Budapest Airport incorporates two terminals. Terminal 1 is a dedicated low cost carrier terminal and Terminal 2 services the traditional carriers. The airport is also the base for Malev, Hungary’s national airline and part of the One World alliance and is home to a further 33 airlines, serving over 90 destinations which represents 40 countries world wide.

About Qatar Airways:

Doha based Qatar Airways was recently voted third best airline in the world following the annual Skytrax survey of 18 million international passengers. The airline was also voted as having the best Business Class service and catering in the world, as well as being honoured as the Best Airline in The Middle East for the fifth consecutive year.

Qatar Airways also became the first airline to receive the Staff Service Excellence Award for the Middle East. The new award replaces the Best Cabin Staff in the Middle East category, which Qatar Airways has won for the past seven years. The expanded category now includes airline staff at all passenger touch points, including onboard, reservations, check-in and airport personnel.