Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport was partially returned to state control a year ago. After more than a year of negotiations, the government agreed on a purchase price of €3.1 billion, 80 percent of which was paid by the state-owned company Corvinus International Investment Co., Ltd., and the remaining part by the market-leading operator Vinci Airports. The French company is present in 13 countries.
Tourism is a key segment of the Hungarian economy, and visitors to Budapest primarily arrive by plane. The sector’s contribution to the national economy is constantly growing, as is the number of guests. In 2022, tourism accounted for 12 percent of gross domestic product. Its share has since increased to 13 percent, and the government wants it to account for 16 percent of GDP by 2030, with 50 million guest nights expected.
Flying start in traffic
According to data from Budapest Airport Zrt., air passenger traffic recovered with the end of the coronavirus pandemic, with 12.2 million arriving in Hungary by plane in 2022. A year later, the number of passengers jumped to 14.7 million, and then to a record 17.5 million in 2024. This year, record results are continuously being broken.
In January, 1.3 million passengers were registered at Ferihegy. There were 1.2 million in February, 1.5 million in March, and 1.7 million in April. The increase in traffic is also due to the fact that so many destinations have never been available from Budapest, as passengers can now choose from 200 destinations from 40 airlines. This generates significant revenue. By 2030, the number of passengers could reach 20 million per year, and by 2040, 35 million.
Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy announced on June 1 that the airport will pay a dividend of more than 100 billion forints to its owners this year, the largest ever, to its owners. That means the Hungarian nation, which now owns the airport, will reap the profits. When announcing the news, the minister made a strong statement regarding the investment. According to him, the repurchase of the airport was an excellent deal for Hungary. Later, when asked by our newspaper, he revealed that “the incoming dividend will improve the budget balance.”
The government can reduce the deficit with this revenue. According to the ministry’s expectations, the state will be able to extract 20-30 billion forints (€49 million to €75 million) in dividends from the airport in the coming years.
This also shows why the state takeover of the airport was so urgent, and it was a key investment not only in increasing state revenue, but also so that the infrastructure could finally begin to be developed.
Márton Nagy called the press together in early June to present the plans. They seem to be on a grand scale, as not only will the long-delayed rail connection between Budapest Airport and the city center be completed, but the expressway will also be renovated and widened, and a new airport will be built. Let’s take a look at what the government is planning.
There is a rail, but no track yet.
The idea of an airport express train arose many years ago, and the need for it has been felt especially since the opening of the SkyCourt, the joint building of Terminals 2A and 2B, in 2011. It can now accommodate many more passengers, and their transportation cannot be conveniently solved by public road due to the limited number of parking spaces — not to mention the fact that the airport access road is also quite outdated.
The bus services providing direct connections to the city center serve only as a cosmetic touch, and there are regular scenes of crowds at the airport. Unsurprisingly, in most foreign cities, direct rail transport is the solution for mass travel, and this is already greatly needed in Hungary.
The government’s plan is to connect Terminal 2 with the Nyugati Railway Station. This does not mean that trains would run on a new track to the city center: The airport railway would connect to the national and regional network via the existing branch lines at the Kőbánya-Kispest station. Therefore, the track would have to be laid through the airport area up to the stop known as Köki, where pairs of tracks already run, as Márton Nagy pointed out to our newspaper.
The investment is estimated at €1 billion, or 400 billion forints. This is a significant amount, and the state does not currently have it at its disposal, so the project would not be implemented from budgetary resources, but through a concession procedure. This means that the concessionaire would cover the construction costs – and presumably also take care of the operation – in return for which it would receive an annual fee from the state.
“The railway is faster, greener and more predictable, and there are no traffic jams,” Márton Nagy emphasized. Environmental pollution could indeed be reduced and greater energy efficiency could be achieved. He added that the railway would also expand the airport’s catchment area. This is currently 150-250 kilometers, and with the expansion, it could increase to 300 kilometers.
The project is open to applicants from both Hungary and abroad, and once the selection process and plans have been completed, details will be available, such as where and how the branch line will connect to the railway network. The question arises: can the current railway system handle the additional load if there is no direct track between the railway station and the airport? Márton Nagy said in this regard: it has been suggested that, for example, a train from Szolnok or Debrecen could stop at the airport.
All this could further increase the airport’s passenger traffic, which raises a pleasant problem from an economic perspective. At the current rate of growth, passengers could soon crowd out cargo from Liszt Ferenc Airport. Ferihegy is not a non-stop airport; landings and takeoffs at night are prohibited, and the increasing number of passenger carriers is taking flight times and runways away from cargo traffic.
However, air cargo is big business for the country. Hungary is the number one hub for freight transport in the Central European region.
In 2024, air cargo traffic exceeded 237,000 tons, and the airport could very soon reach its maximum capacity of 400,000 to 450,000 tons. Most goods arrive from Asia, with China accounting for 43 percent, followed by Qatar, Kazakhstan, and the United States. It is telling that most people from neighboring countries also order Chinese goods through Hungary on the most popular trading sites. In order for Budapest to continue to be ahead of Bratislava and Vienna in this competition, the infrastructure must be developed, all without any disruption to passenger traffic, which is good for the economy.
So the task is clear: We need a new airport, more suitable for freight transport, the implementation of which requires several considerations. On the one hand, it cannot be near a residential area, as it must be non-stop. Connection points are of particular importance, so it must be close to a railway and an expressway. The government will coordinate the location with the investor selected during the concession procedure. Incidentally, the project may be of interest to the countries that transport the most here, so it is possible that investors from China, the Middle East or Central Asia will arrive.
Based on the conditions, however, it is clear that Budapest is not really an option, although there are locations in the agglomeration worth considering. A large rural city like Kecskemét or Debrecen would be much more suitable. According to press reports, the latter may be the target, but Sármellék and Pécs have also been mentioned. Of course, it will still take many years for the construction and operation to begin.
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