Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport

BUD originated in 1938, with the area bordering three settlements (Pestszentlőrinc, Rákoshegy, and Vecsés) selected for the civil-military airport, with civilian facilities in the northwestern section and military facilities in the southwestern area. Works on the airport began in 1942, and in the leadup to the commencement, a high-speed road from the city to the airport site was constructed. As WWII was on the horizon, the military facilities were constructed faster, whereas civil construction slowed down (and ground to a halt) by the beginning of 1944. By the year's end, the city (and, of course, its airport) was under Soviet occupation. By this time, many of the airport's buildings were damaged due to the war. Reconstruction for civilian purposes began in 1947, with the airport opening in May 1950. Initial service was provided by Hungarian-Soviet Civil Aviation Co. Ltd. - MASZOVLET, with routes to Prague, Bucharest, Warsaw, and Sofia. On November 25th, 1954, Hungarian Airlines - Malév was established, with the first flight to the West taking place in the summer of 1956 to Vienna. The following year KLM Royal Dutch Airlines began to service BUD, the first Western airline to do so. Furthermore, at the end of 1958, the runway was lengthened to 9,875 feet. By 1960, traffic had increased considerably, almost quadrupling. On January 1st, 1973, the Aviation and Airport Directorate (LRI) was established, performing as an airline company, a trading company, an authority, an investor, an operator, and a performer of air navigation tasks. The following year passengers served reached one million, and in 1977 a new air traffic control tower was built along with a parallel runway (at 12,162 feet, which opened in September 1983) and a technical base for MALÉV. Growth continued, and in 1980 BUD served 1.78 million passengers, which necessitated more capacity. A new terminal was to be built beginning on November 16th, 1983. The new 24,000-square-meter Terminal 2 opened on November 1st, 1985, and was used by Malév initially and later by Lufthansa, Air France, and Swiss Air, with the old Terminal 1 receiving residual traffic. The first Hungarian transatlantic flight was launched in 1993 via Malév to New York. At the time, it appeared as though the two terminals, which were capable of serving up to 4 million passengers per year, would soon be insufficient. In 1997, construction of the 30,000-square-meter Terminal 2B began, along with a new apron and seven gates. It was completed the following year, with all foreign airlines moving there. BAA plc purchased a 75% stake in BUD on December 8th, 2005, for $2.1 billion (this included a 75-year right to operate the airport). On October 20th, 2006, BAA announced its intention to sell its stake to HOCHTIEF AirPort GmbH, a German airport group. The sale was completed on June 6th, 2007. On July 26th, 2010, the EU revoked BUD's "Schengen Clear" certification following an undercover operation unveiling lapses in personal security check procedures and the unauthorized passing of banned objects. As such, passengers connecting through another airport in the Schengen Zone would have to be rescreened (just like non-Schengen passengers), leading to flight delays and long wait times, particularly at Terminal 2A-B. Over time these issues were alleviated through various measures, particularly the opening of the SkyCourt and its central security area on March 27th, 2011, which also connected Terminal 2A and 2B, along with adding restaurants, lounges, and more (although the "Schengen Clear" status was already restored on November 15th, 2010 after the implementation of security measures and the re-inspection of the airport). On March 16th, 2011, Budapest Ferihegy International Airport was renamed Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport in honor of the 200th anniversary of Franz Liszt's birthday (Hungary's most famous composer). In the summer of 2011, the older parts of Terminal 2 underwent refurbishment, completed in 2012. On February 3rd, 2012, Malév collapsed and filed for bankruptcy. This led to a drastic decrease in passengers and aircraft movements and the loss of a large number of connecting passengers. However, in the wake of Malév's collapse, Ryanair announced it would expand its flights to BUD. Moreover, within six days of the collapse, the airport recovered over 60% of its point-to-point traffic, with new services via Wizz Air, Air Berlin, Aegean Airlines, Lufthansa, and the aforementioned Ryanair. The main loss was in Malév's transfer passengers, which accounted for 1.5 million per year, along with the areas used to service Malév's fleet no longer generating revenue. This brought about financial shortfalls to BUD. In May 2013, HOCHTIEF Group announced the sale of its airports unit (HOCHTIEF AirPort) to the Canadian pension fund Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments). The airports unit was renamed AviAlliance. Since 2011, several major projects have been completed at BUD, including the extension of Terminal 2B in 2018, the construction of Budapest Airport Business Park (a business and cargo area), a new airport hotel, and expanded car parking facilities. Services at BUD had increased since 2014 when Emirates began daily flights to Dubai, and Air China began flight operations to Beijing. Furthermore, service to Toronto, Pearson began that year via Air Transat and later through Air Canada Rouge. LOT Polish Airways announced direct flights to New York and Chicago in July 2017 and later added flights to Kraków and London City. In 2019 the airline announced a massive expansion of routes, with flights to Belgrade, Brussels, Bucharest, Prague, Seoul-Incheon, Stuttgart, and Sofia.

The airport is located about 10 miles southeast of the center of Budapest, bordering Pest county. 
 

• The renovation of Terminal 1 was awarded the Europa Nostra award on April 18th, 2007. It is Europe's most prestigious heritage preservation prize, and it was awarded for the preservation of the protected monument spaces, the central hall, the gallery, and the furniture at T1. 
• The Ferihegy nickname is derived from the neighborhood where the airport is located. In addition, the name is derived from Ferenc Xavér Mayerffy (1776–1845), the former owner of an estate who established vineyards and contributed to the development of viticulture in Pest-Buda. 
• Some of the FBOs at BUD include Euro Jet Intercontinental and FCG Ops.