Budapest Airport can confirm that Ryanair, which has recently announced new routes to Bordeaux and Toulouse, will also commence its first Portuguese operations from the airport for W19/20, adding new flights to Lisbon and Porto. Flights to Lisbon will operate three times weekly, while Porto will be served twice-weekly. The decision by the Irish ultra-low-cost carrier to add these routes will result in a further 49,000 seats being added to the Budapest market next winter, with these Portuguese links becoming Ryanair’s 43rd and 44th routes from the Hungarian capital.
“Last year the number of passengers travelling between Budapest and Portugal grew by 32%, with the direct market now accommodating over 210,000 passengers per annum,” comments Balázs Bogáts, Head of Airline Development, Budapest Airport. “The route to Lisbon itself witnessed an impressive 41% traffic volume increase in 2018, so we are thrilled that Ryanair has confirmed that it will begin its first routes to Portugal from Budapest as the market continues to thrive. These service additions give passengers even more choice and flexibility to visit one of Europe’s most beautiful countries, whether for business or pleasure, while also offering more flexibility for those wanting to travel to Budapest from Portugal as well.”
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Ryanair’s Lisbon service complements the existing operations of TAP Air Portugal and Wizz Air which both presently serve the route on a year-round basis. It means there will be up to 10 weekly departures on the 2,478-kilometre sector from Budapest next winter. Along with Lisbon, the number of flights operated to Porto will double, with Wizz Air already serving the route twice-weekly on a year-round basis. The latter operator also offers a twice-weekly summer seasonal route to Faro on the Algarve Coast, showing that Budapest has a great offering for passengers wanting to explore any part of Portugal.
Ryanair continues to go from strength-to-strength at Budapest, with the airline poised to launch seven new routes from the airport this summer, including Bari, Cagliari, Cork, Palma de Mallorca, Rimini, Seville and Thessaloniki. The airline is expected to operate 19% more weekly flights from the airport in S19 versus last summer. The ramp-up of operations by the airline comes at a time when Budapest continues to become the leading gateway to Eastern Europe, handling 14.8 million passengers a year.
