Talks are underway between the owners of Fly Balaton airport and potential investors to sell the financially frail airport in Sármellék, near Lake Balaton, Népszabadság writes.
The Irish-Hungarian co-owners of Cape Clear Aviation, the company that operates the Fly Balaton airport, suspended operations at the airport in November after the departure of budget airline Ryanair and logistics distributor DHL, promising a restart in March.
Airport CEO Ágoston Gubicza resigned last month.
The company owes creditors and employees and it is feared that a liquidation process could be launched, endangering the March reopening. Cape Clear Aviation said in a statement that it is working to meet the spring deadline, but acknowledged that is in talks with new partners.
Real estate developer SCD Group, which runs development projects near Lake Balaton, has also been courted by Cape Clear Aviation, but SCD said talks proved unsuccessful.
Socialist MP and Balaton Development Council head Tamás Suchman did not rule out state support to keep the airport operating. He noted that “it is important to find an operator as the construction of the new Moto GP racetrack in nearby Sávoly, Somogy county is scheduled to begin later this year.”
This was a great little airport with a very friendly service, sorry if it dies so soon,but that’s the Irish for you,so unpredictable !
I like many others are very disappointed there were no flights from the UK to this airport through Winter and it seems maybe never. Its a fantastic little airport only 10mins from where I live and as husband works in the UK he used this airport many times thro the year. Ryanairs departure has affected us badly time wise and financially but what can you expect from a load of paddies they want lining up and shooting.
It’s really a bit sad and out-dated that this is used for some Paddy-bashing. Ryanair made a commercial decision and and I guess none of us know their thought-process but it’s a fair assumption that if they had been making enough profit on it they wouldn’t have pulled out. The airline business is a pretty tough one if you haven’t noticed Malev’s woes (would you bash the Russians or the Hungarians if Malev pulled out of a route?)
Balaton airport was a pleasure to use. Its was small friendly and you could sit and relax while waiting for the plane to arrive. As Ryanair has pulled out my daughter can no longer come and visit so I could willingly do the same to Ryanair not because they are Irish I couldnt careless if they came from the moon but because they have deprived me of seeing my grandchilderen.
Come on – don’t be ridiculuous – blaming Ryanair for depriving you of your daughter. I’m no lover of Ryanair at all, but have a sense of realism – there are still low cost operators to Budapest and until a few years ago they didn’t even exist – it was 300 quid to/from the British Isles and Hungary and how did all the English and Irish people living here survive in those dark days?! We did, somehow, and managed to see our families now and again. Not to mention.
When Malev pulled out of the Canada route, I didn’t hear lots of people holding them responsible for depriving them of seeing their relatives from Canada. People just accepted it’s a commercial decision and find other options.
Get real.
Ryanair cannot balance their books. They have recently cancelled their sevice form Liverpool to Budapest, also.
FlyBalaton is/was a great airport irrespective of the Ryanair involvement.
I sympathise with all the people who have lost out
because of what has happened at FlyBalaton airport.
Just one last comment: I would look further than just blaming the Irish for this, and other similar cancelled projects, around the country!!!
Fly Balaton should have been out selling slots to other airlines rather than relying on Ryan Air alone.
If Hungarians stopped fighting amongst themselves they might have put some time & effort into promoting Balaton & the surrounding countryside so the flights were full, not 25% empty.
Trouble is the Hungarians did sweet nothing to promote their region but will now blame others.
How about they agree to drop their nationalistic, anti-semitic, anti gypsy fascist nonsense as well as their rose tinted readjustment of the vile communist past.
Instead look to the future and work together to promote the beauty of the Balaton region & to entice an airline back. The opportunity that came with Ryan Air has probably been wasted. Other opportunities will have to be worked for.
Geza is spot on. Hungary’s marketing is really poor. I know full well it’s not easy for a small country with limited resources to market to a big audience but I saw figures last year that the number of visitors had increased but the duration of stays had shortened – and most likely that means unlike the 1 or 2 week visitors of the past (mostly German-speaking), there are lots of 2-night visits to Budapest. I have had many visitors from ireland over the years and only two ever went outside Budapest, and credit to them – almost nobody outside Hungary knows anything about the country except Budapest. I’ve been all around the country in 10 years here and it’s a fabulous place – there are great things to see all over – but they are not marketed. Any international marketing I’ve seen focusses on Budapest (and most of that on spas which is one-dimensional to say the least).
Not only in the area of tourism, I’ve come to the depressing conclusion that Hungarians are really really bad at marketing themselves and their country. (I’d write an essay here if I was in the mood.) I wish it were otherwise as my income depends on the Hungarian economy.
Geza, you are absolutely right about the promotion of the Balaton region. It’s a great place and offers a multi-choice of activities. Unlike Spain, Greece and Turkey, where you get the same old package tours of sea and sand.
I have been working for sometime to promote the Lake Balaton region in the UK. Unfortunately, most Hungarian businesses, in the tourist industry, don’t want to know. And the withdrawl of the Ryanair sevices from Liverpool to Budapest recently, coupled with the FLyBalaton fiasco make things very difficult indeed.
Hungarians are seeing their country maligned both here, and abroad.
Politicians, police and legal-eagles, are paid to sort out these issues. This should leave the rest of us to create a better Hungary. Starting with the promotion of the beautiful Lake Balaton. Give Wizz Air the cancelled Ryanair contracts. They seem to be doing a good job and expanding routes everywhere.
Badbreath: You are correct. I was at a meeting today with the bosses of a newly-built golf course at Lake Balaton. They don’t even understand the concept of marketing and advertising, let alone implement any related activity in these areas.
A huge amount (I mean megabucks)has been spent on producing an international course at Lake Balaton. But not a red ‘fucking’ cent,has been spent on promoting it.
How, and where, do they think they are going to get customers???
This problem is wide-spread in Hungary. I have tried for a year to explain the wisdom of introducing marketing and advertising campaigns. But I might as well be talking to the wall, or Gyurscany!
Gizajobgo’ead
I am very sorry to see FlyBalaton go out of business. There might well be low cost operators to Budapest, the majority of which fly from Luton or Stansted at extremely odd times of the day. They are not the easiest place to get to by public transport if you come from Dorset. People with young children must find it very stressful. Then if you are visiting the Balaton region you either have to hire a car or plan extremely carefully to get a taxi to the train or bus station in Budapest, if you haven’t missed the last departure to get to Balaton or stay a night in Budapest. All of which incurs extra expense, so if J McDavitts children /grandchildren are on a limited budget this cuts down on the number of trips they can make, instead of flying direct to the Lake area. (reference Arts “get real” comment)
As far as the Canadian route with Malev, I haven’t yet met any Canadians staying around Balaton so maybe the loss of that route went unnoticed, however there are hundreds of British /Irish people living in the lake region which have been affected by Ryan Air pulling out. It must also effect the many Hungarians and their families living in the UK from this part of Hungary who used to use the service. I never flew on a flight to Balaton that was empty, I could understand cutting the flights to once a week instead of the 3 they offered. I will do everything I can to avoid using Ryan Air to anywhere in future so they will loose out in the end, especially if everyone did this.
Promoting the Balaton does not have to mean huge untargeted advertising budgets. Careful targeted promotions such as paying for travel writers to visit & placing of articles in travel features of newspapers would be a start. It takes some budget of course & would require the relevant authorities to in Hungary to bother to organise.
Ryan Air like all cheap airlines make their profit on the sale of the last few seats. The flights to & from London and the Balaton were busy but there were always spare seats in my experience. I travelled three times a year. Add to this the doubling of aeroplane fuel prices & you get failure. A little bit of promotion by Hungarian authorities to fill the last few seats might have made the difference.
Marketing and Hungary don’t seem to get along well.
It starts with a small fishing lake, where the reply when you give them cheap marketing ideas is, that everyone knows this lake.
They think only because some Austrians and Eastern Germans came here all those years, everyone knows about Hungary and Balaton.
In fact, most Europeans and Americans don’t even know that lake Balaton is the biggest lake in Europe.
Go figure.
Before meeting my husband it never even came to my mind that I actually could make a decently prized vacation down here.
“I have been working for sometime to promote the Lake Balaton region in the UK. Unfortunately, most Hungarian businesses, in the tourist industry, don’t want to know.”
MY TAKE ON THAT: Well, maybe the Brits have no clue where Hungary is, I dunno, but the current Vice President of the United States of America and his wife go there for vacations, so they must know, what do you think? Heck, they even went there for their honeymoon, you know what I’m saying?
“Most Europeans and Americans don’t even know that lake Balaton is the biggest lake in Europe.
Go figure.”
MY TAKE ON THAT: Yeah, and also imagine that most Europeans are so dumb, they have no clue what the biggest lake in the USA is, or what the biggest lake in Canada is. Wow!!! And these same Europeans, heck they probably think Balaton is not even a lake but an airport. Imagine that. How the heck Ryanair could even spell “Balaton” beats me. But I am sure that the Irish have an ongoing extermination campaign against all things Hungarian, surely.
Sorry, Donizelli. Nothing in your venomous comments will Help the promotion of Lake Balaton.
Ryanair have pulled the route from Liverpool to Budapest as well as the London Stansted to FlyBalaton. I was no great fan of Ryanair. The truth is, though, they have had to withdraw routes for economic reasons.
Lake Balaton started to gain recognition in the UK but, like a lot of tourist venues, has suffered because of the current economic downturn.
And, as you enjoy indulging in plain speaking at the expense of the truth…SHUT THE FUCK UP.
You mis-informed ne’er-do-well!!!!
ANYNYMOUS, you are such a Honkie a-hole, Man. It really shows, you know. Say, howe come you don’t even have a NAME, Jerk? Some shady creature you must be, Buddy.
Anyhow… you may be surprised to learn that the United Kingdom, a.k.a. Great Britain is an entirely different country than the Republic of Ireland is. Duuuh!!! That means that an Irish airline is not necessarily interested in what is good and convenient for a British person. Heck, last I checked, the Irish have no lost love for the Brits, get it? If you need to fly to the UK or to Britain from Hungary, why don’t you see if you can do it on a UK, British, or Hungarian airline, instead of on an Irish or Mongolian one?
Just a suggestion, mind you.
@Doni – What brings you back to Hungary? You sounded like you left for good, and were happy to be an American.
Hey, Sonny, how is Cher doing these days, man? Anyhow… where do you get your information from, from the Hungarian MI5 — Expatrowski Edition? I haven’t been back to the East Block in 18 long years, man. Why, what does that have to be with a busted-up airport on a lake, I don’t get it. Seriously, though, there is plenty of warning on the US State Dept’s web site about the dangers of venturing behind the Curtain, so I figured I just stay put until things turn out to be a tad rosier over there, you know what I mean? Safer, too. Hungaria has gotta be a lot safer before someone from gehind the Pond should go there, you know.
)
@Donazelli- who’s Cher? We’re not really interested in your replies? Goodbye.
Donizelli, maybe the US vice president knows where the Balaton is, but that blonde on the US quiz show that went the rounds last year didn’t even know that Hungary existed. Guess which one is more representative…
I’ll add my vote to the “Hungarians have no idea how to market anything” camp. Even the famous Hungarians from the last centuries are better known as Americans or Germans (Franz Liszt, Ede Teller, …) Compare this with Ireland where they wring the last marketing cent from anyone with the remotest Irish connection.
Just one more comment: “The Land of Spas”.
Hey,Sonny, you don’t even remember your own ex-wife’s name, Bud? Tsk, tsk….
Anyhow…. one day maybe in the very next decade you will finally get over the utmost shock that an Irish no-frill airline has stopped flying to/from Balaton Airport. Considering the mess the world is in at the moment, not having Ryanair fly to a miniscule airstrip in the middle of nowhere Central/Eastern Europe is not such a great tragedy, you know.
BTW, there is an airport in the nation’s capital, Budapest, that you can use to fly in and out of the country, you know. Maybe fly out from there next time — and stay out for good?
And do make sure to say “Hi” to Cher, ya’ hear!?
Well, there is no great loss for someone who does not ever haard of Hungary, some might argue. But the Europeans must really be even dumber than the Yanks when it comes to geography of the other continents. In some way, the Europeans still think that the world evolves around Europe and the rest of the planet does not matter. It was just as tragic to see in a European quiz show that someone though thast Venezuela was a country in the Middle East. Isn’t that dumb? Meanwhile, I understand at least one other American living and workig in Washington, DC knows about Hungary. Although apparently he lumps it together with the Ukraine as the region’s two top basket cases.
I would like to buy the lease for Balaton
Airport. However i would need to put in my own management and start again.
i am in Hungary next week and I am hoping through lawyers and local government representatives
to get some facts and figures so I know what
I am buying .. I have the backers who are
experts in the avitaion industry but i cannot
even make a bid until i know what debts are
outstanding and what our liabilities will be.
I want to tell you that I am british but i have
been coming to hungary for twenty years.
It has excellent potential but right from the kick off, i have never met such un unhelpfull,
bunch of people running the show from top to bottom..
It is no good crying over spilt milk.
Lets hope we can pick up the pieces and start
again . Zala needs a non political airport
able to offer a cut price service and be
really nice to customers. modelled on thelines of monfalcone airport ( trieste)
Reynolds. Flybalaton is a goldmine if properly organized. Bad management and Ryanair tactics combined to see this great little venture bite the dust. Lake Balaton is a fantastic place and can also be turned round to be a great destination for tourists.
Optimism combined with hard work will be a winning formula.
Government interference together with bureaucratic
hindrance are major problems Solve this and you will succeed.Laissez-faire is the better option.
Flybalaton and Lake Balaton – ripe for investment!!
Good luck reynolds…tenacity achieves results.
Hungarians are nice folks, but don’t know how to exploit their jewels in order to improve life for the people. Better accessibility of the airport from Europe means more people around Balaton and in the Mecsek, shuttles to/from the airport improves access too, better quality of the old campingplaces for satisfied customer. more in numbers and more satisfied customers means more money for the locals. But who is gonna pay? The government? The megyes which have benefit? Businesspeople? Combination?
Flybalaton is symptomatic of the Hungarian disease.
Collapse, intrigue, default,corruption,incompetence;
and everything implodes underneath a mountain of rubble to create an economic wasteland.
In truth, does anyone know what the fuck is happening in this land of the galloping goulash?
A caretaker duck farmer (failed) was left in charge
and the horses have stampeded.
The coffers are empty..price rises everywhere, and tax on everything – that most are reluctant to pay. So we have AFA at 25% and wages remain low, whilst prices soar. Evenin’ all.
Just went to Tourinform in Heviz and was told that the Lufthansa charter flights are for sure (that’s the good news, at least for some people) …
The bad news for the rest of us: Nothing official is known yet about other flights, they wouldn’t say a word …