As Budapest Airport carries out dramatic expansion plans, the traffic numbers of this increasingly important Central European travel hub are already breaking annual records as over 12 million individual trips began or ended there in 2017, even before December’s holiday-season traffic. According to Budapest Airport authorities, arrival and departure totals for the year are expected to exceed 13 million, an impressive increase from 2016’s passenger count of 11.4 million – all while a new wing of Terminal 2B remains under construction with completion expected in 2018.

For the first time in Budapest Airport history, over one million arrivals and departures were logged during the month of November, pushing 2017’s totals above 12 million so far according to this press release. Airport officials credit this increase over 2016’s passenger count to the recent addition of 14 new regular flights and frequency increases, with another Iberia flight route to Madrid being added this month, among other factors including Budapest’s increasing popularity as a travel and business destination.

Budapest Airport authorities are working to continue this growth during 2018, as transatlantic flights will be added next summer and efforts are under way to establish new connections with Asian carriers. Boosting Budapest Airport’s viability as a major air-traffic hub, a new passenger pier of over 10,000 square meters is currently under construction that will serve flights originating from and heading to destinations outside of Europe’s Schengen Zone, which is expected for completion next year; the airport’s first on-site hotel should also open in January. For more details, see the Budapest Airport website.