Business 17 September 2020, 2:45pm

Passenger traffic at Budapest airport plummets by more than 90% in September

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Passenger traffic at Ferenc Liszt International airport dropped by more than 90% in the first two weeks of September over August, while cargo traffic hardly decreased, the operator of the airport reported on Thursday.

Passenger seen plummeting more than 90% yr/yr in September

Budapest Airport said nearly 400,000 passengers were served at the terminals in August. In light of the passenger traffic recorded in the first two weeks of September (a drop of over 90% over August due to travel restrictions introduced from 1 Sept due to the coronavirus pandemic) BudAir expects a contraction in excess of 90% for September as a whole compared to the same month of 2019.

Several airlines indicated that they are planning to reduce operations during the next month as well, due to a sudden drop in demand. This means that a decline of 80% to 90% in traffic is expected in October as well, the airport operator added.

Budapest Airport announced earlier that it temporarily closed some areas in Terminal 2 and now it has reminded that these remain closed:

The passenger circulation areas of Pier 1
Terminal 2A check-in hall and arrivals
A part of the departure level of Pier B.

Departing passengers can check in on the T2B side. In the transit area, Terminals 2A and 2B (with the exceptions listed above) and the passenger circulation areas of the SkyCourt remain open. Arriving passengers can leave the airport via Terminal 2B.

Due to the reduction of traffic at the airport, Budapest Airport is also temporarily suspending the operation of Holiday Lite Parking, from the middle of September.

Cargo City performing well even during the COVID-19 pandemic

Budapest Airport handled 84,510 tonnes of air cargo in total in the January-August period, which corresponds to a year-on-year drop of only 3.3%. This means that Budapest Airport handled more than 10,000 tonnes of air cargo per day on average. Compared to other airports, traffic at the BUD Cargo City is stable. The 3% decline is a good result in international comparison, as there are airports where cargo traffic has nearly disappeared during the pandemic.

The proportion of imports and exports within the cargo handled at Ferenc Liszt International Airport has shifted from the previously experienced, balanced 50-50 split to a 60-40 division in favour of imports. Traffic has also been rearranged; with the drastic reduction in long haul, wide body passenger flights, their belly cargo capacity has disappeared. Currently, market needs are satisfied primarily by dedicated cargo flights. During the first eight months, the number of dedicated cargo flights at the airport increased by more than 17%.

Cover photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images