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HUNGARY. Budapest Airport is honing its commercial offer in response to a challenging six months following the bankruptcy of national carrier Malev in February. The airport’s passenger profile has skewed dramatically towards low-cost carrier traffic after Ryanair picked up many of the landing slots abandoned by Malev.
Ryanair now serves the airport with five aircraft and 32 routes, shifting the share of low-cost carriers at the airport from 15-20% of passenger volume to more than 50%. The change has had a significant impact on airline and passenger allocations at the airport’s two terminals. Previously Terminal 1 served low-cost carriers (LCCs) while Terminal 2 housed full-service carriers.
Budapest Airport Director Business Unit Consumers Alan Bork told The Moodie Report: “It has been a challenging few months following Malev’s bankruptcy. Passenger numbers are bouncing back, but it is different traffic. It has only been four weeks since we introduced LCCs to Terminal 2 and we are now looking at revising some concepts, addressing different price points and revisiting some of our food & beverage options.”
The airport had planned a redevelopment of its Schengen offer at the Sky Court commercial zone in T2, but following Malev’s bankruptcy was able to make some last-minute changes to the conceptual approach of the refurbishment.
Bork added that the airport and its concessionaires – including Heinemann Duty Free and SSP – were now considering how to adapt their commercial offer, with changes expected in the coming months.
