A new Hungarian airline will create regional routes
Aeroexpress Regional is the new brand of a Hungarian airline with a three-decade history that has been providing public services in Finland for many years. Company co-owner Dániel Somogyi-Tóth said Vilaggazdasaga Hungarian business site, that they are in talks with the state on how to build a Hungarian regional aviation based on European examples.
The Transylvanian flights of the airline Aeroexpress Regional will certainly be operated over the next two months until the end of October, said co-owner Dániel Somogyi-Tóth. Vilaggazdasag. What happens after that will largely depend on market and public reactions, which will determine whether the airline expands domestic capacity further.
Aeroexpress Regional is supported by Aeroexpress Légiforgalmi Zrt., which was founded by BASe Airlines Zrt. The latter is also a wholly Hungarian interest, founded in 1991. Its central base is Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport. The Aeroexpress group was founded by Dániel Somogyi-Tóth, director of the Aeropark Aviation Museum at Liszt Ferenc International Airport, also a conductor and organist, and for ten years chief musical director of the city of Debrecen in the eastern part of Hungary.
The company launches in Hungary on September 5, with Debrecen International Airport as a close partner.
Flights will be operated on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on the Budapest-Cluj-Debrecen-Targu Mures-Debrecen-Cluj-Budapest line, and sales have already started, with ticket prices ranging from €30 to €90 per trip.
It is particularly worth noting that the Budapest-Cluj route can be done in one working day, which is good news for business travelers, but can also appeal to day-trippers.
The popularity of this route is also demonstrated by the fact that from mid-October, the Romanian regional airline start-up Air Connect will also operate this route, in addition to connecting Budapest with Bucharest twice a week.
Aeroexpress Regional will operate Brazilian-built Embraer 120 ER turboprop passenger aircraft with 30 seats, specially designed to operate short-haul regional flights efficiently and economically.
Although Hungarian regional aviation has a long history, since the bankruptcy of Malév, a former Hungarian airline more than ten years ago, this segment has remained empty, which has not helped the aviation market. .
The emergence of Aeroexpress could make a big difference in the Hungarian market, but it will require a stable number of passengers on the routes that have just been suddenly launched.
Somogyi-Tóth said the test period will prove whether they can import the product from BASe Airlines, which in Finland means three flights a day, in Hungary. It will also require the support of the state, which Airportal.hua Hungarian aviation website, thinks this is a possibility, as Aeroexpress Regional projects are supported not only by Debrecen Airport, but also by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
According to the company’s founder:
the underdeveloped road and rail network in the Hungarian regions beyond the border justifies the maintenance of a more serious flight system at the regional level, the center of which could be the growing city of Debrecen, located in the geographical center of the Carpathian Basin.
Somogyi-Tóth also said that there was originally a plan to start from Ungvár (Uzhhorod, Ukraine), as Transcarpathia has very poor land connections, but this was canceled due to the war. However, they did not give up on connecting Ungvár to Budapest, Debrecen or even Vienna.
He added that he saw no potential for domestic flights, as the motorway infrastructure is sufficiently developed and rail connections are constantly improving. The co-owner of the company believes that regional aviation can grow where there are no motorway links or fixed routes.
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