2009. 09. 25
Budapest Airport, AirportShuttle-Minibusz and Malév have reached agreement on a new joint scheme: passengers will have additional convenient services at Ferihegy including special travel tariffs, flexible timetables and attractive travel destinations throughout the entire Malév network. Malév and AirportShuttle-Minibusz are launching a joint scheduled express minibus service between Budapest and Schwechat on 25 October.
The most important market players in the services sector, operator of Ferihegy International Airport Budapest Airport Zrt. (BA), their exclusive partner specialized in minibus transfer services AirportShuttle-Minibusz, and the airline generating the largest passenger turnover at Ferihegy Malév Hungarian Airlines, are putting their names to a new, and according to plans long-term cooperation agreement. As a result of the partnership, from October Malév customers will be able to travel at a discounted rate from Vienna Schwechat Airport to Ferihegy, from where they can then use the airline's extensive route network to travel throughout Europe and beyond.
AirportShuttle-Minibusz and Malév - working along the lines of the Budapest-Bratislava and Budapest-Košice minibus services that have been such a success over the past three months - will operate a double daily minibus shuttle to and from Vienna. The first minibus leaves for Austria on 25 October, the first day of the winter timetable. Tickets for the shuttle can be booked on a Malév flight number at travel agencies. The cost of the minibus service is €30 per person one way. The direct minibus connection represents an attractive travel option for price-sensitive travellers who would like to fly from Vienna and its environs, as well as the south of the Czech Republic to Budapest, and then onward from Ferihegy. Until now the Budapest-Vienna distance was only covered by air - with flight services of Austrian carrier - but now travellers have a competitive alternative in the new minibus shuttle and in Malév's extensive route network.
The decision to go into partnership in the launch of the Vienna service is fully in line with the Hungarian carrier's new, dynamic commercial strategy. This June the three companies inaugurated an aggressive campaign on the Slovak market to win a bigger slice of the Central Europe market. The scheme has proved an unqualified success. As a result of the joint Slovak appearance and jointly-operated minibus service, those interested in travelling to or from the region are now able to access the services of airlines operating out of Ferihegy airport far more conveniently.
In the wake of the launch of the Košice and Bratislava minibus connections Malév generated multiple-digit growth in passenger numbers in Slovakia right from the very first month. From the beginning of the summer the number of Malév air tickets sold in Slovakia nearly doubled, and going on pre-bookings it is likely that there will be even better results in the months to come.
As well as the scheme outlined above, AirportShuttle-Minibusz and Malév have devised an additional new service: AirportShuttle-Minibusz guarantees a discounted rate airport transfer for passengers who have Malév e-tickets, who wish to travel between the Budapest urban area and the airport, and who book the minibus transfer online at www.airportshuttle.hu. These customers can travel with AirportShuttle-Minibusz at the reduced rate of HUF 1495/person, but during the first 4 weeks of the launch campaign starting on 1 October 2009 this ticket rate is cut to just HUF 990/person.
Under the terms of the agreement between Malév and AirportShuttle-Minibusz virtually the entire AirportShuttle-Minibusz fleet is being fitted with selected elements of the Malév brand (e.g. logo).
Budapest Airport is contributing to the success of the new project by mobilizing its airport resources and getting involved in a major Austria-Vienna campaign similar to that run in Slovakia.