Snowy mountaintops with the bastions of the Great Wall, an unusual aerial photo of the Forbidden City, an ultramodern megalopolis and thousand-year-old traditions–all within the walls of a single city. All this and more is on display on the departure level of Budapest Airport, courtesy of the memorable new photo exhibition by Beijing Capital International Airport, BUD’s sister airport, presenting the wonderful world of Beijing and China.
With the newly opened photo exhibition, Budapest Airport is returning the gesture, whereby the Hungarian capital and its airport were presented at the Chinese capital airport last year. Beijing Capital International Airport is one of the most rapidly developing aviation hubs in the world, which handled nearly 96 million arriving and departing passengers last year, making it the second busiest airport in the world behind Atlanta, USA, ahead of hubs such as Dubai, Los Angeles or Tokyo. During the summer schedule period, Air China flies four times a week between Beijing and Budapest, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The airline’s modern Airbus A330 aircraft arrive in the Hungarian capital at 19:40 and depart for the Chinese metropolis at 21:10 hours local time.
“In the last three years passenger traffic has risen almost by 80 % between Beijing and Budapest. While in 2014 we only had 90,000 visitors from China last year this number has reached 230,000 people. We also notice that Budapest Airport and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade are closely working together to bring even more visitors to Budapest and to open new destinations for air travel in China.” said Ms. Alexandra Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Vice-Mayor of Budapest City. She also said:” This important contact between Hungary and China has not only economic impact but also has great cultural mission to fulfil. We can call Budapest in every sense the Eastern gateway of Europe and also the Western stronghold of China in Europe.”
The hubs of the two capitals started building sister airport relations several years ago, whereby the managers of the two facilities meet once a year in person to discuss the latest developments in the aviation industry. The current visit by the President and CEO of Beijing Capital International Airport to Budapest was also part of this series, when Mr. HAN Zhiliang met with Jost Lammers, the CEO of Budapest Airport and his colleagues, to discuss Hungarian-Chinese aviation relations. Mr. HAN Zhiliang used this opportunity to open the photo exhibition at Budapest Airport, presenting China and its capital.
“We are more than delighted to visit Budapest Airport today to celebrate the unveiling of the Budapest-Beijing Sister Airport Photo Exhibition,” said Mr. HAN Zhiliang, the President and CEO of Beijing Capital International Airport. “Last year, this exhibition was unveiled at Beijing impressing passengers with the beauty of Budapest Airport as well as the city. I hope this exhibition will allow more passengers to learn about Beijing and visit Beijing. Hungary continues to remain as China’s biggest investment country in Central and Eastern Europe-as a result, our aviation market has also been further expanded. We will work together to provide more convenient and comfortable travel experience to the passengers between Beijing and Budapest, and build up the air bridge for the political, economic, and cultural exchange between China and Hungary.” he added.
“I am both delighted and proud to open this photo exhibition, showcasing Beijing and the People’s Republic of China. We ourselves, Beijing and Budapest Airports and Air China are actively contributing to deepening the traditional friendship that exists between the Chinese and the Hungarian people, as symbolized by this photo exhibition,” emphasised Jost Lammers, the CEO of Budapest Airport. Mr. Lammers also stated that Budapest Airport would like to further develop relations with China, and would like to add more Chinese airports to the passenger and cargo route network accessible from the Hungarian capital. He expressed his conviction that the new photo exhibition could contribute to strengthening tourism to China, as these pictures will give passengers an appetite to visit China and get to know this more than four-thousand-year-old culture.
At the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition H.E. DUAN Jielong, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Hungary and Ms. YAN Jianshu, General Manager of Air China Airline in Hungary have both spoken highly of the close cooperation between the two airports and appreciated their joint effort to strengthen the Sino-Hungarian relationships and friendship.
