Hungarian civil aviation looks back on a past of more than 80 years.
It was less than a year after Louis Blériot's demonstration flight in Hungary when the first Hungarian aviation company - the Aero Joint Stock Company - was formed, on June 25, 1910. The company (operating until 1912) established a school for pilots, where the crew and technical staff were taken on contract from France.
On July 4, 1918, military courier aircraft of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy were among the first in the world to deliver airmail, flying between Budapest and Vienna. Some of these consignments had airmail stamps affixed, surviving examples of which are highly valued by philatelists the world over.
The MAEFORT Hungarian Air Transport Joint Stock Company, established in 1920, had a regular mail and goods delivery service in Hungary, with military aircraft from the First World War piloted by ex-army staff, while at the end of 1921 the company also occasionally carried passengers.
In 1922, two aviation enterprises established themselves in Hungary, starting full operations the next year. The Aeroexpress Joint Stock Company operated regular flights between Budapest and Vienna with five-person Junkers F-13 aircraft. At that time seaplanes used the Danube as a landing strip. The company was wound up in 1926. The other newly formed airline proved to be more viable. The Hungarian Aviation Joint Stock Company started scheduled passenger, goods and mail deliveries - also on the Budapest-Vienna route - with Fokker F-III 5-person aircraft. .
In 1928, Hungarian Aviation aircraft had already flown some 850,000 km, carrying almost 10,000 passengers and a payload of 1 million kg. In the same year the company was reorganized, continuing operations under the name Malert.
In the 1930s Malert opened and gradually expanded domestic flights, while aviation agreements signed with foreign states meant that the Ju-52 and SM-75 aircraft were able to bring the major cities of Europe closer to Budapest.
The Second World War put an abrupt halt to Malert flights. Its aircraft were requisitioned and Malert employees drafted for military service; by the end of 1944 the company's air fleet had been totally destroyed, and the airports in Hungary were in ruins. After the war Hungarian aviation had to be reorganized virtually from scratch.