A total of 14.7 million travelers were recorded on Ferenc Liszt International Airport in 2023, which marked a 91% recovery from pre-pandemic levels in 2019.
According to reports, the most favorite destinations in 2019 had been Istanbul and London.
The rise
There was a 30% increase seen on Budapest Airport of non-Schengen passengers, while Schengen passengers recorded an increase of 15%.
The BUD authorities issued a press release, which disclosed that 2023 had proven to be a successful year for the airport, even though there had been a number of challenges.
Budapest Airport said that since March, there had been passenger traffic of more than one million recorded every month, which means for a total of 10 months.
It means that by the end of the year, the total number of passengers recorded in Budapest Airport stood at 14,701,080.
In addition, they expect to see a full recovery in the number of passengers that were recorded a year before the pandemic.
A total of 131 direct flights had been offered by Budapest Airport in 2023 that were operated by 39 airlines, which included four Chinese destinations.
These were Shanghai, Chongqing, Ningbo and Beijing. Airport officials said that this expansion had led to a rise in business travel.
Nonetheless, a substantial part of the overall traffic that was recorded also comprised of leisure travelers.
The airport
As far as cargo is concerned, a total of 201,306 tonnes were transported by the airport, which is a 3.6% rise from 2022 and a 48.5% rise since 2019.
Not only did both cargo and passenger traffic record an increase, but the title of Best Airport in Europe was also awarded to Budapest Airport by the Airports Council International (ACI).
Furthermore, the airport was also awarded the title of ‘Best Airport in Eastern Europe’ for the tenth time and it also received four stars from the industry for quality.
The outstanding performance of the airport was confirmed by the high quality of the passenger experience recorded in international passenger satisfaction surveys in all quarters of 2023.
This was apparent from the fact that overall passenger satisfaction scores were 4 out of 5 consistently.
The improvements
The total number of airports that were surveyed stood at 20 and among them there were only 3 that improved passenger services as compared to 2019. This included Budapest Airport.
The highest increase in overall satisfaction was recorded by Budapest Airport, as it rose by 11 percentage points.
In addition, Budapest Airport was also rated by passengers as the best one in terms of restroom cleanliness, entertainment facilities and Wi-Fi service quality.
This saw it secure a fifth-place ranking amongst all 20 airports. The last four years have seen Budapest Airport invest about 100 billion HUF in different developmental initiatives.
There had been a significant increase in passenger traffic on Budapest Airport in January 2022. Specifically, there was a 750% increase seen on Liszt Ferenc International Airport.
This was in comparison to the same month in 2021, as the number rose to 562,635.
