Ryanair moves into Budapest following Malev demise

Ryanair is to open a new base at Budapest within two weeks following the demise of Malev today.

The Hungarian carrier ceased flights earlier today after it ran out of cash and just hours later Ryanair said it would be launching Budapest as a new base from February 17.

The no-frills giant said it would base four B737-800 at Budapest and will be flying on 31 new routes from the Hungarian capital. Ryanair said it would be replacing “most of the traffic and routes lost by Budapest following last night's grounding of Malev”.

The new Budapest routes include services from Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Stansted and Manchester. Ryanair had already announced last month that it was launching five new routes from Budapest from March.

Ryanair's deputy CEO Michael Cawley has been in Budapest to finalise negotiations with Budapest Airport and the Hungarian Government. 

The company said in a statement: “Because Ryanair has grounded up to 80 aircraft this winter, it has the capacity to respond immediately to the Malev grounding by moving aircraft, pilots and crews to Budapest within two weeks, in order to minimise the disruption to Hungarian consumers and visitors and tourism as a result of the Malev closure.”