The last departing flight from Terminal 1 at Budapest Airport left for Stuttgart, Germany Tuesday night. The terminal is expected to be closed for five years for reduced traffic. So, as of May 30, all carriers use Terminal 2.

Budapest Airport has signed 5-year lease agreements with two of the surviving Malév subsidiaries, Malév Ground Handling and Aeroplex that carry on their service operations at the airport, serving their corporate partners.

Based on the Board of Directors’ decision, Hungary’s national airline ceased its operation to minimize its losses. According to the company's statement, after nearly 66 years of continuous operation, Malév aircrafts will not depart from 6 a.m. on February 3.

Under a government decree, Hungary’s state-owned airliner Malév is now classified as a company of key strategic importance as of 07 a.m. this Tuesday. This means the company has been taken under bankruptcy protection.

The European Commission found that financing granted to Hungarian flag carrier Malév between 2007 and 2010 in the context of its privatisation and renationalisation constitutes illegal state aid and must be repaid to the state.

Hungarian Airlines Malév is to get a HUF 8.5 billion (EUR 31.17 m) capital injection from the state that is re-channeling this sum in the budget as an extraordinary government measure. The carrier already got an injection in June.

Malév Hungarian Airlines incurred a loss of HUF 24.56 billion (EUR 91.32 m) in 2010, the carrier’s balance sheet approved by a shareholder meeting on Friday showed. The figure is a bit better than the year before but worse than projected.

The entire management and the offices of Malév Hungarian Airlines will move to Budapest’s international airport. According to plans, three modernized office buildings await the some 600 employees of the company.

US air carrier American Airlines has begun a new non-stop daily service between New York City's JFK airport and the Hungarian capital Budapest. The first flight landed in Budapest Wednesday morning and returned to JFK before noon.

Martin Gauss, chief executive of Hungarian airline company Malév, has tendered his resignation, the Hungarian State Holding Company (MNV) has announced on Tuesday. His departure is effective as of May 31.

American Airlines and Malev will launch a daily direct Budapest-New York flight on April 6, the vice president for the region at the American air carrier, Kurt Stache announced at a press conderence in Budapest on Tuesday.

The Russian owners of Hungarian airlines Malév will be offered a stake in a Hungarian gas storage facility in exchange for their shares, the Hungarian business daily Napi Gazdasag reported on Friday quoting unnamed sources.