Ryanair has announced two flights each way per week connecting the Hungarian capital to Castellón (Spain), Katowice (Poland), Liverpool (United Kingdom), and Toulouse (France), starting at the end of this month.
The additions are expected to raise the airline’s passenger numbers through Ferenc Liszt International Airport to 5.6 million this year, an increase of 13% on 2024. It means some 640 weekly flights linking the city to 68 destinations across the continent, a record for Ryanair, Ray Kelliher, director of route development, told a press conference in Budapest on March 11.
The expansion will also mean one more aircraft based in Budapest, raising the total to 10, meaning the airline’s operations will have created 4,200 jobs directly and indirectly in Hungary, he said.
Kelliher, part of a posse of Ryanair managers touring Central and Southeastern Europe, was keen to underline that the new flights had resulted from the Hungarian Government’s move to scrap what he termed the “aviation taxes” from Jan. 1 this year.
The tax, described soon after its introduction in mid-2022 by Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary (noticeably absent from this year’s delegation) as the “ludicrous and idiotic excess-profits tax,” has long been a bone of contention for the Dublin-based carrier. According to O’Leary, Ryanair slashed its Budapest routes from 53 to 45 in the winter of 2022-3 as a direct result of the tax.
Ryanair’s celebrations from the abolition of the levy have been tempered by what the airline says is the unexpected increase by 6% (in euro terms) of airport charges.
“Whilst it is extremely positive to see the pro-growth steps being taken by the Hungarian Government to lower access cost[s] at Hungary’s airports, it is concerning to see airports, such as Budapest, attempting to derail this by opportunistically clawing back some of the tax through excessive and unjustified airport charge increases,” Jason McGuinness, Ryanair CCO, stated in a press release issued at the conference.
Critically, both McGuinness (who was also present) and Kelliher repeatedly warned that the increase in airport charges, which came, they said, despite an earlier promise that there would be no rise in fees this year, threatened Ryanair’s expansive mid-term plans to increase services not only to Budapest but also to regional airports in Debrecen and Balaton.
“We want to increase traffic [in Hungary] over the next five years by about 80%, so we want to grow from [the] approximately 5-5.5 million passengers that we’re doing today, per annum, to about 9 million by adding 40 new direct connections to Hungary, including starting operations to Balaton and Debrecen, and basing about six additional aircraft to Hungary, not all necessarily in Budapest,” Kelliher said.
This would create 180 “highly paid aviation jobs” and mean an “investment” of USD 1.6 billion in Hungary, he added (Ryanair typically suggests the cost of each airplane is an investment into the country).
However, the no-frills carrier is playing tough on the conditions for this promised aviation bonanza. As Kelliher stated, the “asks” include a government commitment that the aviation tax will not be reintroduced “at any time.” In its press release, Ryanair also demanded an “immediate” reduction in airport charges, although this was not explicitly stated in the press conference.
Intriguingly, the airline squarely blamed Vinci, the French airport operator, for the alleged rise in airport fees, although it only owns 20% of the airport operating company, with the government controlling the remaining 80%.
“Vinci is the same French concessionaire that currently has all the Portuguese airports. If you look at somewhere like Lisbon, charges are up 70% since 2019 […]. Belgrade airport, which they manage, they’ve built an extra terminal and a new runway, but Belgrade airport is empty. Why? Because the charges are in excess of EUR 40. My concern is […] the French concessionaire is not as invested in Hungarian tourism as we are,” McGuinness said.
In response to questions from the Budapest Business Journal for comment on the Ryanair charges, Budapest Airport replied via email.
“Budapest Airport, as per its publicly available tariff manual, has revised the effective airport charges from April 1, 2025, by 4%. The publicly available incentives, for airlines who wish to grow their business have not changed.”
It continued, “BUD [the airport operator] is detained and controlled at a large majority by Hungarian public investment arm. It also benefits of the Vinci know-hows as Vinci Airports is operator of the airport. Regarding annual charges consultation, it is a recurring exercise at Budapest Airport, in line with the prevailing regulation.”
As to the accusation that Vinci has raised fees at Lisbon airport by 70% since 2019, its headquarters in France responded bluntly: “It’s wrong. Charges have [been] raised following inflation rate. During this time, i.e., between 2019 and 2024, traffic at Lisbon airport rised [sic] by +12%, and Ryanair’s [own] at LIS [increased] by +13.2%.”
As for Belgrade airport being “empty,” Vinci France retorted: “It’s wrong, Belgrade airport served 8.36 million passengers in 2024, up by 5.3% compared to the year prior, and 36% more than in the pre-pandemic 2019.”
Ryanair has high hopes for growth in Central and Eastern Europe over the next decade. According to Jason McGuinness, traffic is expected to grow from the current nearly 40 million passengers per annum (approximately 21% of the airline’s total 180 million) to “somewhere closer to 100 million of the total 300 million,” around 30% of the carrier’s total expected in 2034.
“We are Poland’s largest carrier at the moment. We have 40 aircraft based [there], and we’re working with the Polish Government to work towards 100 aircraft based in Poland by 2034, as an example,” McGuinness told the March 11 press conference.
In Sofia, Ryanair has announced two new routes for this summer, Pisa and Frankfurt-Hahn, bringing the total destinations served to 25. Tirana is another airport targeted by the budget carrier, adding two new routes this month, bringing the total destinations to 23 to the Albanian capital.
“ I think within the next 5-10 years, Albania will be competing very aggressively for the holiday product with the Greek islands and southern Italy. The issue really is how much [of this growth] will be in Hungary, ’cause you do have all the other countries in CEE competing for that,” McGuinness told the BBJ.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of March 21, 2025.
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