Budapest Ferihegy airport sees 2005 traffic surge

State-owned Budapest Airport Rt, slated for privatisation, said in a statement quoted by national news agency MTI, that Ferihegy had record turnover in January.

The number of passengers rose 32.9 percent year-on-year to 450,000, while the number of flight departures jumped 26.2 percent to 9,100 and air cargo turnover grew 13 percent to 3,000 tonnes.

For all of 2004, cargo turnover surged 20.3 percent to 80,000 tonnes, and the number of passengers increased 28.6 percent to 6.46 million.

The passenger turnover by discount airlines increased by almost ten times to 982,000 in 2004, and last month they transported 132,000 passengers through the airport.

Budapest Airport said that it would pay a dividend of almost 10 billion forints ($53.6 million) to the state on its 2004 earnings.

Hungary's privatisation agency APV recently chose Credit Suisse First Boston as its adviser in the sale of 75 percent minus one share in Budapest Airport.

The operator aims to become the leading air cargo hub in Central Europe after building an air cargo and logistics base by 2006 on a site near the airport, which it purchased recently.

Investor interest in a planned sale of Hungary's loss-making airline, Malev, also increased recently.

Four potential investors purchased applications to bid in the Malev sale earlier this month, though the privatisation of the company has already failed three times.

Source: Reuters