SkyTeam Day at Budapest Airport: New Joint SkyTeam Ticket Office Opens in Budapest.

Monday 6th June 2011

SkyTeam alliance members last week, June 2nd, celebrated the opening of a new joint ticket office in Terminal 2A at Budapest Airport. To mark the occasion the airport held events including an official opening ceremony and the visit of several alliance liveried aircraft of member airlines.

To enhance customer service, SkyTeam member airlines focus on increasing co-locating check-in areas, airport ticket offices and lounges at airports worldwide.

"The new SkyTeam ticket office is a milestone in the Central European region and a sign of alliance members' commitment to deliver customer facilities that make traveling smoother and simpler," said Gordon Humpherys, SkyTeam's Vice President Airport Services. "SkyTeam offers customers an extensive global network so they can make well timed and frequent connections to key destinations.

"Welcoming SkyTeam is a great moment for our airport and our passengers. SkyTeam members connect Budapest to some of the top business and leisure destinations in the world," said Jost Lammers, CEO of Budapest Airport. "We will handle 24 SkyTeam flights daily through our brand new SkyCourt terminal at Budapest Airport. Passengers can transfer at hubs including Paris, Rome, Amsterdam and New York JFK. Just this summer season we expect no less than 5351 flights of SkyTeam members."

As part of the SkyTeam day, member airlines operated alliance liveried aircraft out of the airport. Delta Air Lines was the first SkyTeam arrival of the day and was greeted with a water cannon salute to mark the first flight of Delta's summer service between Budapest and New York JFK.

The new shared SkyTeam Ticket Office is situated in Terminal 2A and will make the customer experience seamless by co-locating the seven SkyTeam airlines that operate from Budapest (Aeroflot, Alitalia, Air France, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, KLM and TAROM).

About SkyTeam:

SkyTeam is a global airline alliance providing customers from member airlines access to an extensive global network with more destinations, more frequencies and more connectivity. Passengers can earn and redeem Frequent Flyer Miles throughout the SkyTeam network. SkyTeam member airlines offer customers over 420 lounges worldwide. The thirteen members are: Aeroflot, Aeroméxico, Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Kenya Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air, TAROM and Vietnam Airlines. SkyTeam offers its 385 million annual passengers a worldwide system of over 12,500 daily flights to 898 destinations in 169 countries.

www.skyteam.com

About Budapest Airport:

Budapest Airport Zrt. operates Budapest Airport. This is a public private partnership with the Hungarian State holding 25% and the remaining 75 percent owned by German company HOCHTIEF AirPort, one of the world's biggest independent airport managers, together with a further four financial investors: Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Montreal; GIC Special Investments, Singapore; and KfW IPEX-Bank, Frankfurt. In July 2008, Aero Investment S.á.r.l. became a new shareholder.

Through its BUD Future project Budapest Airport aims to be the aviation hub of the CEE region. Leading projects include:

SkyCourt - a new centrally located building which formally opened on 27 March 2011, and links the existing terminals 2a and 2b. The contemporary glass structure offers an impressive view of the apron and aims to provide passengers with a unique travel experience.

Cargo City - New on-airport cargo facilities will feature 140.000sqm of cargo and logistics terminals designed for airlines, handlers and integrators.

Budapest Airport incorporates two terminals. Terminal 1 is a dedicated low cost carrier terminal and Terminal 2 services the traditional carriers. The airport is also the base for Malev, Hungary's national airline and part of the One World alliance and is home to a further 32 airlines, serving over 92 destinations which represents 40 countries worldwide.

www.bud.hu