Air China to Increase the Number of Flights between Budapest and Beijing

MTI-Hungary Today 2024.01.15.

From April, Air China will increase the number of its flights between Beijing and Budapest from two to three a week. Furthermore, Budapest Airport is also in talks with China Southern Airlines to further expand the connection between the two countries.

The Chinese national airline launched a direct Budapest-Beijing flight in 2015, which was suspended during the COVID pandemic. Direct flights between the two capitals resumed in the summer of 2022, before being suspended again for a few months in March 2023. In June of last year, direct flights were reopened with two flights per week.

Two airlines currently operate eight flights a week between Hungary and China, with Air China and China Eastern Airlines flying to the Hungarian capital.

Four major Chinese cities, Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Ningbo, are directly accessible from Budapest without a transfer.

China’s capital, Beijing. Photo via Pixabay

Budapest Airport is also negotiating with China Southern Airlines to launch new flights. The Chinese airlines offered 34 percent more seats in 2023 than in 2019, and Budapest Airport expects further expansion in 2024.

Despite China only opening to Europe in the second quarter of 2023, the eight direct flights per week reportedly only account for more than half of passenger traffic to Hungary.

Fact

As Hungary Today reported earlier, the number of tourists from South Korea and China quadrupled in 2023 compared to 2022. Tourists from distant countries are more interested than average in sightseeing, gastronomy, spas, and culture, and several of them are visiting Hungary’s attractions in the countryside. From South Korea, the 25-44 age group accounted for 52 percent of visitors, and the same age group from China accounted for 63 percent of tourists. Many visitors from South Korea come for business or even to work or study, and from China, millions can be attracted by a TV show. A good example is the Chinese reality show Chinese Restaurant, filmed in Budapest last year between June and July. The first episode was watched by more than 160 million people in the first week of its launch.

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Via MTI; Featured image via Facebook/Air China