Beijing photo exhibition at Budapest Airport

Budapest, 24 April 2018. Snowy mountaintops with the bastions of the Great Wall, an
unusual aerial photo of the Forbidden City, an ultramodern megalopolis and thousand-yearold
traditions – all within the walls of a single city. All this and more is on display on the
departure level of Budapest Airport, courtesy of the memorable new photo exhibition by
Beijing Capital International Airport, BUD’s sister airport, presenting the wonderful world of
Beijing and China.
With the newly opened photo exhibition, Budapest Airport is returning the gesture, whereby the
Hungarian capital and its airport were presented at the Chinese capital airport last year. Beijing
Capital International Airport is one of the most rapidly developing aviation hubs in the world,
which handled nearly 96 million arriving and departing passengers last year, making it the second
busiest airport in the world behind Atlanta, USA, ahead of hubs such as Dubai, Los Angeles or
Tokyo. During the summer schedule period, Air China flies four times a week between Beijing and
Budapest, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The airline’s modern Airbus A330
aircraft arrive in the Hungarian capital at 19:40 and depart for the Chinese metropolis at 21:10
hours local time.
“In the last three years passenger traffic has risen almost by 80 % between Beijing and Budapest.
While in 2014 we only had 90 thousand visitors from China last year this number has reached 230
thousand people. We also notice that Budapest and Airport and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and Trade are closely working together to bring even more visitors to Budapest and to open new
destinations for air travel in China.” said Ms. Alexandra Szalay-Bobrovniczky, Vice-Mayor of
Budapest City. She also said:” This important contact between Hungary and China has not only
economic impact but also has great cultural mission to fulfill. We can call Budapest in every
sense the Eastern gateway of Europe and also the Western stronghold of China in Europe.”
The hubs of the two capitals started building sister airport relations several years ago, whereby
the managers of the two facilities meet once a year in person to discuss the latest developments
in the aviation industry. The current visit by the President and CEO of Beijing Capital
International Airport to Budapest was also part of this series, when Mr. HAN Zhiliang met with
Jost Lammers, the CEO of Budapest Airport and his colleagues, to discuss Hungarian-Chinese
aviation relations. Mr. HAN Zhiliang used this opportunity to open the photo exhibition at
Budapest Airport, presenting China and its capital.
"We are more than delighted to visit Budapest Airport today to celebrate the unveiling of the
Budapest-Beijing Sister Airport Photo Exhibition,” said Mr. HAN Zhiliang, the President and CEO of
Beijing Capital International Airport. “Last year, this exhibition was unveiled at Beijing
impressing passengers with the beauty of Budapest Airport as well as the city. I hope this
exhibition will allow more passengers to learn about Beijing and visit Beijing. Hungary continues
to remain as China’s biggest investment country in Central and Eastern Europe- as a result, our
aviation market has also been further expanded. We will work together to provide more
convenient and comfortable travel experience to the passengers between Beijing and Budapest,
and build up the air bridge for the political, economic, and cultural exchange between China and
Hungary.” he added.
“I am both delighted and proud to open this photo exhibition, showcasing Beijing and the
People’s Republic of China. We ourselves, Beijing and Budapest Airports and Air China are
actively contributing to deepening the traditional friendship that exists between the Chinese and
the Hungarian people, as symbolized by this photo exhibition,” emphasized Jost Lammers, the
CEO of Budapest Airport. Mr. Lammers also stated that Budapest Airport would like to further
develop relations with China, and would like to add more Chinese airports to the passenger and
cargo route network accessible from the Hungarian capital. He expressed his conviction that the
new photo exhibition could contribute to strengthening tourism to China, as these pictures will
give passengers an appetite to visit China and get to know this more than four-thousand-year-old
culture.
At the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition H.E. DUAN Jielong, Ambassador of the People’s
Republic of China to Hungary and Ms. YAN Jianshu, General Manager of Air China Airline in
Hungary have both spoken highly of the close cooperation between the two airports and
appreciated their joint effort to strengthen the Sino-Hungarian relationships and friendship.
Link to the photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/zwJNG43oGAzMAvJg1
More information:
Mihály Hardy
communications director
Budapest Airport Zrt.
Tel.: +36 1 296-6753
Mobile: +36 30 327-2372
Email: mihaly.hardy@bud.hu
Notes to editors
Budapest Airport is the best airport in Eastern Europe, as recognized by Skytrax in 5 consecutive
years from 2014 to 2018, based on passenger ratings. Budapest Airport Ltd., the operator of
Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, is owned by a consortium of Canadian (Caisse de
dépôt et placement du Québec, 21.228 %) and Singaporean (Malton Investment Pte Ltd., 23.334
%) investors, led by AviAlliance GmbH (55.438 %). The terminals of the airport are home to 44
airlines, which transported 13.1 million passengers to 125 airports in 45 countries in 2017 (14.5 %
growth rate in 2017 vs. 2016). Budapest Airport handled 127,145 tons of cargo in 2017 (13.4 %
growth rate vs. 2016).