Portuguese flag carrier TAP Portugal has relaunched a direct flight between Lisbon and Budapest. The first Airbus A319 aircraft operated by TAP Portugal arrived at Liszt Ferenc International Airport on Monday and was welcomed with a traditional water cannon salute.
The Portuguese carrier will operate the flight seven times a week and 85% of its seats have already been booked for the summer months. Péter Szolnok, head of TAP Portugal’s office in Hungary, said prior to the arrival of the first plane that the carrier was returning to the Hungarian market after a 15-month hiatus. Budapest Airport CEO Jost Lammers said the number of tourists between Hungary and Portugal had risen by 6% over the past year, according to the airport’s data.
Meanwhile, Hungarian low-fare airline WizzAir said it would launch flights next year from Budapest to Basel, Switzerland, and Stavanger, Norway. CEO József Váradi said WizzAir would operate five flights a week to Basel from March and fly twice a week to Stavanger from May 2018 and it would also increase the number of its weekly flights to Milan, Moscow, Rome and Barcelona.
Earlier last month, Ukraine International Airlines launched daily flights between Budapest and Kiev. The airline, which returned to Budapest after a five year break, flies a Boeing 737-800 planes on the route with nearly 150 passengers. It is a lucky coincidence that the visa requirement between Ukraine and the European Union was phased out just a week before the first flight in mid-June.
During the past year, several new flights were announced in connection with Hungary’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport. New air links were established – among others – to Astana, Tunis, Bangkok, Algiers, Sofia, Porto and Toronto.
via MTI and bud.hu