Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (, ) , formerly known as Budapest Ferihegy International Airport and commonly called Ferihegy (), is the international airport serving the Hungarian capital city of Budapest. It is the largest of the country's four commercial airports, ahead of Debrecen and Hévíz–Balaton. The airport is located southeast of the center of Budapest (bordering Pest county) and was renamed in 2011 after Hungarian composer Franz Liszt () on the occasion of his 200th birthday. The facility covers and has two runways.

Although Ferenc Liszt primarily offers international connections to other European cities, destinations in North America, Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia are also served. In 2024, the airport handled 17.6 million passengers. It is the headquarters of and primary hub for Wizz Air and a base for Ryanair. It was the primary hub of Malév Hungarian Airlines until the airline's bankruptcy on 3 February 2012, which initially caused a significant drop in connecting passengers, flights, and cargo.

Name Ferihegy is the name of the neighbourhood around the airport, after Ferenc Xavér Mayerffy (1776–1845), the previous landowner who established vineyards and contributed to the development of viticulture in Pest-Buda. "Feri" is a diminutive form of Ferenc. "Hegy" means mountain: though the area is almost totally flat, a 147 m sandy hillock was levelled during construction of the airport in the 1940s.

History

Designing and construction (1939–1944) In 1938, the idea of a new civilian and military airport for Budapest was born, to be built at the boundary of the settlements of Pestszentlőrinc, Rákoshegy and Vecsés. Civil facilities were to be built in the northwestern section and military ones in the southwestern section. A public tender was invited for the design and construction of the structures.

In December 1939, the designs of the pioneering modern architect Károly Dávid Jr. (1903–1973) were chosen, with a terminal building which resembled an aircraft viewed from above. Work commenced in 1942. To approach the airport from the city, a highway was constructed between 1940 and 1943, which, after improvements, remains in use today.

The military buildings were hastily constructed from 1940 to serve war needs, with aviation starting in 1943, while civil construction halted at the beginning of 1944. Many of the airport buildings were damaged during the Soviet Budapest offensive. By the end of 1944, the city and its airport were under Soviet occupation.

Reconstruction (1947–1950) In 1947, it was decided that the airport would be reconstructed for civil aviation over three years, with 40 million forints allocated. The opening ceremony was held in May 1950, though not all sections were finished, and operations began by the Magyar-Szovjet Polgári Légiforgalmi Rt. (MASZOVLET, Hungarian-Soviet Civil Aviation Co. Ltd.), established in 1946. The airlines operated only a few foreign flights, including to Prague, Bucharest, Warsaw, and Sofia.

Magyar Légiforgalmi Vállalat (Malév, Hungarian Airlines) was established on 25 November 1954. The first regular flight from the airport to Western Europe was a Malév flight to Vienna in summer 1956. The first Western airline flying to Budapest was KLM in 1957. The terminal building was finished in this period and the runway was built. At the end of 1958 the runway was lengthened to and taxiway D was finished.

Continued growth (1960–1980)

From 1950 to 1960, the number of landings increased from 4,786 to 17,133, with passenger traffic increasing from 49,955 to 359,338. In 1974, passenger traffic reached one million. In 1977, a new control tower was built, as well as a second runway parallel to the old one and a MALÉV maintenance facility. The new runway opened in September 1983.

Jewish exodus and new infrastructure (1980–2000)

From 1989 to 1991, Budapest Ferihegy Airport served as a major transit hub for over 160,000 Soviet Jewish emigrants en route to Israel. With direct flights from the Soviet Union to Israel still politically sensitive and unavailable until late 1991, the Jewish Agency and Malév Hungarian Airlines jointly operated a series of charter flights connecting Moscow, Budapest, and Tel Aviv.

The operation made Hungary a key logistical partner in the post-Soviet aliyah and symbolized its broader turn toward pro-Western humanitarian policies. The airport became the focus of international attention and security concerns, including threats of terrorism. In December 1991, the radical German Communist Red Army Faction attempted an IED bombing against a Jewish refugee bus convoy on the road to Ferihegy.

In 1993, Malév launched the airport's first Hungarian transatlantic flight, to New York-Newark via Rome. According to traffic forecasts for the new millennium, the two terminals serving 4 million passengers a year promised to be insufficient. The 30,000 m² Terminal 2B opened in 1997 with seven gates, five remote stands, and a capacity of 3.5 million passengers a year. All foreign airlines moved to the new terminal.

Public to public-private ownership (2000–2012)

On 8 December 2005, a 75% stake in Ferihegy Airport was bought by BAA plc for 464.5 billion HUF (approx. US$2.1 billion), including the right of operation for 75 years.

On 20 October 2006, BAA announced intentions to sell its stake in Budapest Airport to a consortium led by the German airport group, Hochtief AirPort GmbH, subject to the consent of the Hungarian State.

On 6 June 2007, BAA and a consortium led by Hochtief AirPort (HTA) formally closed and completed the transaction of the sale of BAA's shares in Budapest Airport to the Hochtief AirPort Consortium. The ownership of this was as follows: Hochtief AirPort (49.666%) and three financial investors: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (23.167%), GIC Special Investments (23.167%) and KfW IPEX-Bank (4.0%).

On 15 November 2010, Budapest Airport regained the "Schengen Clear"-status, after implementing the necessary security actions and after that, the airport underwent the strict re-inspection.

SkyCourt, the new expansion project including shops, restaurants and lounges, also connecting Terminals 2A and 2B was opened on 27 March 2011. In summer that year, the refurbishment of the older parts of Terminal 2 began; work was completed in 2012.

Collapse of Malév, aftermath, and future (2012–present) In the wake of the collapse of Malév, Ryanair announced that it would expand its flights to Liszt airport. Ryanair began selling the flight tickets to the public, but Budapest airport said that the company had not secured all of the necessary slots (which were later negotiated successfully).

However, the airport had lost Malév's transfer passengers, which, prior to the airline's collapse, had amounted to 1.5 million passengers per year. A second effect of the Malév collapse was that the Malév aircraft maintenance facilities would no longer generate revenue even once passenger traffic had been restored. These factors created significant financial shortfalls.

In February 2012, Hainan Airlines ceased services between Beijing and Budapest. Prior to the collapse of Malév, Hainan had a codeshare partnership with Malév.

In May 2013, Hochtief Group sold its stake in the Budapest airport to the Canadian Pension fund Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments). Following the sale the HOCHTIEF AirPort division was renamed AviAlliance. In July 2015, the ownership of Budapest Airport was the following: AviAlliance (52.666%) owned by PSP Investments, Canada, Malton Investment (22.167%) owned by GIC Special Investments, Singapore, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Canada (20.167%), KfW IPEX-Bank, Germany (5%).

Up to December 2012, 61 million euros was spent to expand and modernise the airport infrastructure. In 2012 Terminals 2A and 2B were refurbished and connected to each other by the Skycourt main departures hall. Terminal 2B was extended in 2018. A new business and cargo area was constructed, the Budapest Airport Business Park, as well as a new airport hotel.

Several future expansion projects involve another 300 million euros, pending regulatory approval and third-party investment. Proposals include new cargo facilities and a new Terminal 3 originally planned for 2020. The newly appointed CEO stated in a 2021 interview that construction of the new terminal could commence in 2025.

In 2020, according to a report from Bloomberg, the Hungarian government was looking to buy the airport from its foreign owners such as GIC (Singaporean sovereign wealth fund) and Canadian AviAlliance, reversing the 2005 privatization which the current Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had opposed. In September 2023 the government made a formal bid to buy Budapest Airport.

On 6 June 2024, the government announced the purchase of the airport in partnership with Vinci Airports, the airport's operator. Hungary and Vinci, after paying €3.1 billion and assuming a net debt of €1.2 billion, respecitively hold 80% and 20% ownership. Vinci Airports will continue as operator, with a concession expiring in 2080.

Terminals

Terminal 1 From 1 September 2005, re-opened Terminal 1 served low-cost carriers. Terminal 1 is divided into Schengen and Non-Schengen boarding gates.

Being located within the premises of Budapest, it offers faster public transport time to the city centre, compared to the Terminal 2 about 3 kilometres farther. (Terminal 1 offers an about 20 minutes direct train journey to Budapest city centre, while Terminal 2 requires an 8-minute bus ride to the train station).

Sky Court between Terminal 2A and 2B Sky Court is a state-of-the-art building between terminals 2A and 2B with 5 levels. Passenger safety checks were moved here along with new baggage classifiers and business class lounges, such as the first MasterCard lounge in Europe.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

As of July 2025, the following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter services to and from Budapest Ferenc Liszt Airport:

Cargo

Statistics Busiest routes + Top 10 busiest routes from Budapest in 2024 Rank Airport Passengers Airlines 1 Istanbul 517,748 Turkish Airlines, Wizz Air 2 London–Stansted 498,175 Ryanair 3 Frankfurt 482,651 Lufthansa 4 Barcelona 482,054 Ryanair, Smartwings, Wizz Air 5 Tel Aviv 466,757 arkia, Bluebird Airways, El Al, FLYYO, Israir, Ryanair, Wizz Air 6 London–Luton 453,440 Wizz Air 7 Amsterdam 442,559 KLM 8 Milan–Malpensa 425,516 Ryanair, Wizz Air 9 Dubai 382,692 Emirates, flydubai, Wizz Air 10 Madrid 380,381 Iberia, Ryanair, Wizz Air

Other facilities Wizz Air has its head office in Building 221. Wizz Air signed the lease agreement in October 2010 and moved there in June 2011 with 150 employees. The airline occupies over of space in an office building refurbished after the airline's arrival. The facility, with open plan offices, houses about 150 employees. In addition, Farnair Hungary has its head office on the airport property. Malév Hungarian Airlines signed a lease agreement with the airport in the spring of 2011, agreeing to relocate its headquarters to the airport grounds by the summer of 2012.

Ground transportation Taxi Budapest Airport's official Taxi partner is Főtaxi which has a taxi order stand at both arrival site's exit (outside the building).

Accidents and incidents On 6 August 1961, a Malév Hungarian Airlines Douglas C-47A crashed into a residential area during a sightseeing flight. All 4 crew and 23 passengers were killed along with 3 on the ground. On 15 January 1975, Malév Hungarian Airlines Flight 801A, an Ilyushin IL-18, a ferry/positioning flight, crashed 1360m beyond runway 31 and 120m left of the centerline because of bad weather, darkness, fog, lack of crew coordination and possible spatial orientation. All 9 occupants died.