Having already added an exceptional 23 new routes for 2017, Budapest Airport has further expanded its route network by announcing the restoration of a direct link to St. Petersburg. The Hungarian gateway, which recorded a remarkable average of 17% passenger traffic growth in Q1 2017, has confirmed Wizz Air’s twice-weekly service to Russia’s second largest city will launch on 27 August.
Serving 63 destinations from Budapest this summer, Wizz Air’s new operation will be its second route to Russia, joining the ultra-low-cost carrier’s (ULCC) existing daily service to Moscow Vnukovo. Facing no direct competition on the airport pair, which was last flown by UTair in 2014, the ULCC’s resumption of the highly demanded link will see Russia become Budapest’s 12th largest country market served.
“St. Petersburg has consistently recorded our highest indirect traffic within Europe,” explains Balazs Bogats, Head of Airline Business Development, Budapest Airport. “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 among tourists from both countries,” added Bogats.
With its new link to the Russian port city, Wizz Air will now offer 245 weekly flights from Budapest this summer, in total close to 4.5 million seats from Hungary’s capital city throughout the year.
