Budapest Airport in Hungary recently welcomed the inaugural flight of its new airline partner, Emirates. Operated by its two-class 278-seat Airbus A330, the new daily service to Dubai is expected to deliver around 200,000 annual passengers to the Central European airport.

Adding the UAE emirate to its route network has made the underserved Budapest-Middle East market more accessible, and also allows Budapest Airport to provide more onward destinations to several new connecting markets including Sydney, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; and Sialkot, Pakistan.

With Emirates joining Qatar Airways, the Hungarian gateway will now be served by two of the major Middle East airlines, as well as home-carrier Wizz Air, which also serves Dubai World Central Al Maktoum International Airport.

At the official opening ceremony, Budapest Airport’s CEO, Jost Lammers, welcomed the arrival of this significant new service and the airport’s fifth new airline this year.

“We are delighted that Emirates has launched its daily wide-body service from Budapest to Dubai which will provide excellent connections through its Dubai hub. For a fast growing market like Budapest, it is essential to have world class airlines and, with tourism numbers to Budapest outperforming most European markets, we are confident that now is the ideal time to celebrate this route launch and we look forward to seeing Emirates upgrading the aircraft with more capacity in the not too distant future," said Lammers. – TradeArabia News Service