In a major development Budapest Airport welcomes the return of regular wide-body scheduled services after securing a new daily route to Dubai with Emirates, set to begin this winter season, operated by its two-class 278-seat A330s.

With Emirates joining Qatar Airways, the Hungarian gateway will now be served by two of the Middle East Big 3 airlines, as well as home carrier Wizz Air, which also serves Dubai World Central - Al Maktoum International Airport. Until recently, the Budapest-Middle East market was underserved, but the new daily Emirates service means that the Middle East will become more accessible than ever, with 31 weekly scheduled operations by W14, offering a total of 6,166 weekly seats to the region. Joining the market gives Emirates a 32% share of all scheduled seats to the region, while also offering 23% of Middle East frequencies. (Source: Innovata
schedule data, week commencing 2 November 2014.)

Adding Dubai to its route network this winter, means Budapest Airport can now provide more connections, with competitive fares, to several new Asian, African and Australian destinations via Dubai, including significant new one-stop destinations such as Sydney, Taipei and Phuket.

Commenting on the major efforts made to attract this important new service, Jost Lammers, Chief Executive Officer, Budapest Airport, says: “We’re absolutely ecstatic to welcome Emirates as a new airline. We promised some very significant new service developments this year, so Budapest Airport is enormously proud to announce the arrival of this major global carrier – especially because Emirates will be offering both daily frequencies, and wide-body services.

We’ve been working really hard with Emirates over the last five years to place fast growing Budapest on their network radar and I have absolutely no doubt that this new daily service will be extremely popular in connecting Hungary to the world in parallel.”

Tim Clark, President Emirates said: “Connectivity and mobility are crucial in today’s global economy, and our service to Budapest will open up a world of opportunity for people in Hungary. It will introduce faster connections for our customers – both passengers and exporters – through our Dubai hub to numerous points that are currently underserved, including Sydney, Taipei and Phuket. These vital connections will inject new demand for travel, help boost bilateral trade with markets in the East, and magnify the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy. Ultimately, our global network benefits our customers.”