Budapest Airport handles more than 4 million passengers in Q1 2025 (2)

Liszt Ferenc International Airport closed the first quarter with more than 4 million passengers, an increase of 15.5% compared to the first three months of 2024.

The most popular cities in March were London, Tel Aviv, Istanbul, Paris and Milan.

In January-March, 95,000 tonnes of cargo were handled at Budapest Airport, an increase of 52.6% over the same period last year and the highest quarterly cargo volume ever recorded.

Budapest Airport announces passenger and cargo traffic in monthly bulletins, but the minister wanted to be first with the good news.

UPDATE:

Budapest Airport has released its latest bulletin, so we can add March data to the list below:

• In January, 1,293,556 passengers travelled from the capital airport, 17.5% more than a year earlier, and also the highest first-month passenger traffic ever. 
• Passenger numbers reached 1,249,814 in February this year, up 15.9% on last year's 1,075,552, then the busiest February on record, while the combined total for the first two months is 16.7% higher than in 2024.
• In March, 1,468,754 passengers passed through Ferenc Liszt International Airport, 13.3% more than in the same period last year.
• The volume of cargo handled at the airport also showed a significant increase, with 28,646 tonnes handled in January 2025, 58.5% more than the same period last year.
• The 29,063 tonnes of cargo handled in February represents an increase of 44.3% compared to the same period last year, while the total volume handled so far in 2025 is 51% higher than last year, surpassing both Vienna and Munich.
• The 36,781 tons of cargo handled in March year exceeded the base period's print by 55.1%, surpassing the previous record-breaking month of November 2024, when 31,121 tonnes of cargo were handled at the gateway to Hungary.

• The more than one-and-a-half-fold increase and the new record quarterly result means 94,490 tons handled from January to March, which is a 52.6% increase from the same period last year and the strongest quarterly cargo volume ever.

• In the summer schedule, Budapest Airport has announced 11 new flights, which, together with frequency increases to existing destinations.

Although Q1 cargo volume is higher than the total annual volume of air freight carried ten years ago, the number of cargo flights has increased by only 28.6% since that period, i.e. less than 3% per year. "This sustainable growth is due to the higher capacity and better load factor of dedicated cargo flights, as well as a significant increase in the volume of belly cargo carried on long-haul passenger flights," Budapest Airport explained.

Cover image (for illustration purposes only): Getty Images