Budapest Airport’s 2024 Results Exceeding Expectations

2024 broke all previous records in the history of Budapest Airport, the operator of the Hungarian capital's Ferenc Liszt International Airport: 17.6 million passengers and nearly 300,000 tons of air cargo passed through the airport last year, foreshadowing robust passenger growth in the coming years and consolidating the airport’s role as a regional hub, the company said in a statement.

Annual passenger traffic at Budapest Airport, now part of the VINCI Airports network, surpassed the pre-COVID level for the first time, and in anticipation of further growth, owners and management have begun preparations for the construction of Terminal 3, which will ensure a high quality of service for passengers in the long term.

According to the statement, 2024 was a very important year in the history of Ferenc Liszt International Airport. After almost 20 years, the airport returned to majority Hungarian ownership; in June, the Hungarian state acquired an 80% stake in the airport operator and the French company and world’s leading private airport operator, VINCI Airports a 20% share.

Moreover, the airport also broke all previous records by serving 17.6 million arriving and departing passengers in 2024. With 17,574,413 passengers handled last year, annual traffic not only exceeded the 2023 figure by 19,5%, but also surpassed the previous record-breaking 2019 figure by 8.7%. Hungary’s attractiveness as a tourist destination and Hungarians’ appetite for travel were reflected in the airport’s passenger traffic throughout the year, with over 1 million passengers every month, and Budapest Airport recorded the highest traffic growth in October among the 50 busiest European airports.

The one in Budapest is one of the main airports operated by VINCI Airports that crossed record-breaking thresholds in 2024: 35 million passengers were welcomed at Lisbon, 26 million at Santiago Airport in Chile, 15 million at Edinburgh in the United Kingdom and 8 million at Belgrade in Serbia.

At Ferenc Liszt International Airport, 141 destinations were available from 43 airlines in 2024, with London, Istanbul, Milan and Paris being the most popular destinations. Passenger traffic to and from China nearly tripled, and there was also record growth to Italy, Spain and Germany, supported by a number of new destinations and frequency increases on existing routes. Brand new destinations included Faro, Marrakesh and Bilbao, while the number of Chinese cities with direct flights from Budapest increased to five, with 17 flights per week in total. Wizz Air, Ryanair, Lufthansa, LOT Polish Airlines and Turkish Airlines carried the most passengers last year.

Budapest Airport also had an outstanding year in air cargo. While in 2023, it celebrated reaching the 200,000 ton threshold, the volume of cargo handled in 2024 almost reached 300,000 tonnes - 299,642 tonnes to be precise. This represents an increase of 48.8% from the previous year, and once again positions Budapest Airport as a leading player in the region. As with passenger traffic, air cargo volumes exceeded those recorded in the same period of last year in each month of the year.