Budapest's Main Airport: 10 Mn Passengers in 10 months

With the summer season over, passenger traffic at Ferenc Liszt International Airport is slowly decreasing, according to the latest bulletin published this Thursday by the airport's management company Budapest Airport.

Although the monthly passenger number remained above one million in October, traffic compared to 2019 fell from 80-82% in the summer months to 79%. In the tenth month of the year, 1,169,679 arriving and departing passengers used the airport. The airport has thus registered 10,230,431 passengers in total so far in 2022, 220% more than last year, the bulletin says.

Last year, Budapest Airport’s forecast assumed a full recovery of passenger traffic in 2023. However, the recently introduced tax created an additional burden for airlines and resulted in canceled capacities for this fall and the upcoming winter season. Based on this and the impacts of high inflation and a slowing economy, BUD revised and reduced its forecast by two million passengers. This not only impacts Budapest Airport, but the entire tourism industry, generating over HUF 100 billion HUF of potential revenues lost for the sector.

Following a slight decrease in September, cargo volumes increased by 11.2% in October, compared to the same period last year; Budapest Airport handled 17,011 tons of cargo last month. The increase is due to a surge in traffic, caused by the year-end peak season, as well as the joint work of the airport and the air cargo community. As a result, Budapest Airport is delivering strong results, despite the global slowdown seen in cargo.