Hungary’s Budapest Airport restores direct link to St. Petersburg, Russia

TIN news:  Hungary’s Budapest Airport is set to restore a direct service to St. Petersburg in Russia.

To be launched by Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air, the new twice-weekly service is slated to begin on 27 August.

The direct service to St. Petersburg was last flown by UTair in 2014.

Serving 63 routes from the airport this summer, the new link will be Wizz Air's second serviceable route to Russia, the first being the ultra-low-cost carrier’s (ULCC) existing daily route to Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport.

Having already launched 23 additional routes this year, Budapest Airport is further expanding its network with the twice-weekly direct flight to Russia’s second largest city.

Commenting on the Russian restoration, Budapest Airport Airline Business Development head Balázs Bogáts said: “St. Petersburg has consistently recorded our highest indirect traffic within Europe.

“Those passengers which have had to connect via Moscow Sheremetyevo, Frankfurt or Riga in the past will now be able to benefit from Wizz Air’s strategically important new link.

“We’re confident the direct link will be in high demand from both business travellers as well as tourists from both countries.”

With the resumption of the new link to Russia, Wizz Air will be able to offer 245 weekly flights from Budapest in summer this year.

Throughout the year, the airline will serve approximately 4.5 million customers travelling from Budapest Airport.

The Hungarian airport registered an average of 17% passenger traffic growth in the first quarter of 2017.