Budapest Airport scoops ERA's Airport Achievement Award

Saturday 5th October 2013

Budapest Airport was last night named as winner of the European Regions Airline Association's (ERA) Airport Achievement Award, coinciding with the Association's Gala Dinner during its annual assembly in Salzburg, Austria.  The award was presented to Chief Commercial Officer Kam Jandu by ERA Director General Simon McNamara.   A panel of independent judges drawn from member airlines, journalists and industry leaders praised the airport for achieving a very fast recovery after losing its major carrier.   "Airport management has reacted swiftly to create new business opportunities and has succeeded in rebuilding the lost network in less than a year.  At the same time its passenger services have developed in a positive direction, including the ongoing improvement of departure punctuality. This is an outstanding achievement," they noted.

ERA's annual Airport Achievement Award was created to foster the mutually beneficial relationship between airports and their airline customers. Each year the accolade is given to the airport which, in the opinion of the judges, has achieved the greatest positive impact on intra-European air transport operations. As with the airlines, airport entrants are judged in context of their unique size and the operating conditions they face.

Warmly accepting the award from industry peers Kam Jandu paid tribute to the airport's 800 employees for their hard work in recovering from what has been a very challenging period.  "Simply, we learned to adapt - moving from a predominantly hub-and-spoke model to a point to point one, working closely with our low fare, regional and legacy carriers, who were all so terrifically supportive." he said.  "Through hard work and support from our airlines and partners we succeeded in stemming the fall in annual passenger numbers to a mere 5%.  Passenger numbers at the airport for 2013 are on course for about 8.5 million and we are forecasting an annual growth rate of 4% from 2014 on, working towards a goal of 10 million passengers by 2017," he added.

While Budapest Airport has worked hard to make up for the lost routes on Malev's network, several "white spots" still remain and talks are under way - both at ERA this week and at World Routes in Las Vegas next week to entice new operators to fill these gaps.  In May the airport announced a 50% discount incentive scheme on landing fees to target these white spots, which include bolstering low-frequency routes, as well as new daily services. Furthermore, the airport is looking to develop a self-connecting mechanism to better facilitate transfer traffic.  One strong attraction the airport offers is its highly attractive and award winning SkyCourt terminal - now enjoyed by all scheduled and charter passengers passing through Budapest Airport.

Budapest Airport scoops Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Fieldwork Award again:

Complementing the ERA Achievement Award Budapest Airport has also been applauded for its outstanding research prowess, scooping the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Fieldwork Award in the Best Sample Category (European Airport) by Airports Council International (ACI).  This marks the second year that the airport has scooped the accolade. It was presented in Milan Malpensa at the end of September as part of the annual ASQ Forum.  ACI's annual ASQ Fieldwork Awards recognise airports which achieve the highest standards in ASQ fieldwork. ACI introduced the Airport Service Quality Programme to help airports enhance the quality of service experienced by passengers. The programme identifies and disseminates best practice from top-performing airports around the world and provides practical management information and advice specifically for the airport industry.  ACI held its first ASQ Forum in 2006 and now boasts over 200 participating airports.

Jost Lammers, CEO for Budapest Airport commented: "This Award is testimony to the ongoing reliability and attention to detail with which the research activities at our airport are being conducted and reinforces our continuing commitment to deliver the best practice in all areas of our business.

He added: "Budapest Airport is proud to have regularly featured in the roll call of winning airports, last year scooping the CAPA - Centre for Aviation Airport Marketing Award for Excellence and in 2011 as overall winner of the Routes Europe Airport Marketing Awards in 2011."

About The European Regions Airline Association:

The European Regions Airline Association (ERA) is a non-profit trade association representing the intra-European aviation industry.  Created three decades ago ERA has developed and grown in size and reputation to represent 50 airlines and over 120 service providers including airframe and engine manufacturers, airports, suppliers and service providers from all over Europe.

ERA works on behalf of its members to represent their interests before Europe's' major regulatory bodies. The Association also brings members together to exchange information and learn from each other through different events and forums. A major role for ERA is to raise the profile and importance of regional air transport to the economic and social development of Europe and this is undertaken through lobbying and communication campaigns.

www.eraa.org

About Budapest Airport:

Budapest Airport Zrt. operates Budapest Airport. This is privately owned with German company HOCHTIEF AirPort, one of the world's biggest independent airport managers holding a 49.67% stake, together with a further four financial investors: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Montreal holding a 18.17% stake; Malton Investment Pte Ltd. holding a 18.17% stake; Aero Investment S.á.r.l. holding a 10% stake and KfW IPEX-Bank, Frankfurt holding a 4% stake.

New airport member to the European Regions Airline Association (ERA), Budapest Airport aims to be the best airport in the Central and Eastern European region and has been recognised for their development projects, customer services approach and marketing activities.

www.bud.hu