After the launch of the first flight on August 27, Saint Petersburg will become the second Russian destination available from the Hungarian capital. Since the budget airline launched the Budapest-Moscow route in September 2013, a total of 440,000 passengers have been carried between the capitals of the two countries.
Following the recent commencement of nine routes and the announcement of the Bordeaux, Astana and Frankfurt services, Saint Petersburg is the 13th destination to which the airline will start operating flights from Budapest this year. The airline now connects the Hungarian capital with 63 cities across Europe and beyond, which makes its Budapest offer the most diverse in the entire Wizz Air network. Wizz Air now offers 69 routes from Hungary, connecting Budapest and Debrecen with 29 countries across Europe and beyond.
“As the de facto national carrier of Hungary, we are proud to announce today a long-awaited Wizz route from Budapest to Saint Petersburg, establishing the only direct air connection between Hungary and the cultural capital of Russia,” said Várady at the press conference today. “Similarly to our Budapest-Moscow service, we expect our second route to Russia will stimulate economic, business and trade relations between the two countries and we are also confident that our low fares will attract a large number of leisure travelers to both cities, stimulating the tourism and hospitality industries. We remain strongly committed to Hungary and our Hungarian customers and continue to develop our ever-growing low-fare network bringing ever more opportunities to the country,” he added.
Szijjártó stressed that a country is obviously in a disadvantageous position if it does not have a national carrier in terms of investment, economy and tourism. Therefore, the minister noted, it is good that the efforts of Wizz Air and Hungary are in synch, which is why the government is providing diplomatic and political help for Wizz Air through negotiations. He added that it is in the country’s interest to see Wizz Air keep up the momentum in growing and offering more flights from Hungary.
Commenting on strong anti-Russian sentiment in Europe, Szijjártó said that while political communication is characterized by anti-Russia rhetoric, he has experienced that a growing number of West European businesses are making deals with the major power.
Originating from Hungary, Wizz Air currently operates flights from two Hungarian bases in Budapest and Debrecen with a total of 12 aircraft in the country, employing more than 1,000 people in flight and cabin crew, office and support functions.
In 2016, some 3.7 million passengers flew with Wizz Air to and from Hungary, which the airline claims is more than any airline has ever carried on its Hungarian routes, and represents 23% growth year-on-year. Based on 2016 figures, the airline’s operations support over 2,800 indirect local jobs.
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