Budapest Airport: new high-speed rail and freight airport to be built

Last week, the government decided to build a new fast rail link between Liszt Ferenc International Airport and Nyugati pályaudvar, as well as a new cargo airport . Both projects will be carried out in the form of concessions, the former for €1 billion and the latter for €0.4-1 billion, Minister of National Economy Márton Nagy announced at a press conference on Tuesday.

Budapest Ariport's passenger traffic has grown by an average of 14 percent in recent years, breaking the pre-pandemic record last year to 17.6 million, and based on data from the first four months of this year, growth is expected to continue, with passenger traffic expected to exceed 20 million by 2030 and 35 million by 2040. With passenger traffic of this magnitude, it is necessary to develop direct connections," he said.

The new line would be built only between Kőbánya and the airport and the airport would be connected to the national railway infrastructure. The minister said that the preparation of the project has started on the basis of a government decision detailing this, and concession tenders could be launched within six months.

Márton Nagy also said that the construction of the new cargo airport is necessary because Budapest Ariport is slowly reaching the upper limit of its annual traffic of 400-450 thousand tonnes and with the increase in passenger traffic, there is no more free time for air cargo traffic.