Budapest Airport has signed 5-year lease agreements with two of the surviving Malév subsidiaries that carry on their operations at the airport. The companies will lease offices, maintenance hangars and other facilities from Budapest Airport.
Budapest Airport has been working for months on the terms of the new agreements with the two surviving subsidiaries of the former national flag carrier in order to meet the needs of the airport partners and to tailor the agreements to the new conditions at the airport. The lease agreements signed with Budapest Airport cover a period of five years, both for Malév Ground Handling and Aeroplex.
Aeroplex of Central Europe operates a large MRO base at Budapest Airport and provides line maintenance for a large number of different aircraft types ranging from Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 through the Boeing 737 and Airbus A 320 family to the large Boeing 747. They also provide all kinds of repair, overhaul and maintenance (D-check) for the most common passenger airliners like Boeing 737 and Airbus A 320. Main partners in recent months for Aeroplex have included Air Berlin, Norwegian Air Shuttle and Spanish Air Europa.
Malév Ground Handling has been providing a wide range of airport services for airlines, including check-in and baggage handling, boarding of aircraft, providing VIP lounges and other business services. After streamlining its operations Malév Ground Handling continues to service important airline partners of Budapest Airport, like KLM, Air France, SN Brussels Airlines, Czech CSA and Air Berlin.
René Droese, Property Director of Budapest Airport has commented: "This is a very important milestone in our relationship with ACE and Malév GH since the collapse of Malév Hungarian Airlines. We have secured five-year lease agreements with them and we are not only interested in the survival of these two companies but in their long-term success. This is positive news for the airport and the Hungarian aviation industry following the negative financial impacts, damages to tourism and thousands of jobs lost due to the collapse of Malév and the extra land-tax levied on Budapest Airport."
"This agreement is an important cornerstone in the life of Aeroplex and also in the process of reorganization we had to undertake due to the collapse of Malév" said Imre Nemcsok, managing director of Aeroplex. He added: "I hope that this five-year-long contract will demonstrate another aspect of our stability and will help us in our efforts to retain and strengthen our market position reached in the past twenty years. I also hope that soon we will be able to expand our clientele."
Lóránt Limburger, CEO of Malév GH has added: "We have been through dramatic weeks now at Malév Ground Handling, but with the signing of this lease agreement we can now look securely into the future. We had to adjust our operations to the realities of the post-Malév era. By signing the new lease agreement we have secured a contractual framework for our future operations. For me the most important task are now to consolidate the company, maintain its good reputation and to continue to provide the high quality services further to our airline partners at the airport."
Photos of Aeroplex MRO-hangars at BUD and Malév ground handling can be downloaded from here: <nobr>https://picasaweb.google.com/108933759603549992086/ACEMALEVGH?authkey=Gv1sRgCNPrxI2Yt6K2RQ#
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More information:
Mihály Hardy
communication director
Budapest Airport Zrt.
Tel: +36 1 296-6753
Mobile: +36 30 327-2372
Email: <nobr>mihaly.hardy@bud.hu</nobr>
Notes to editors:
Budapest Airport Plc., the operator of Ferenc Liszt International Airport is owned by a consortium of German (KfW IPEX-Bank 4%) Canadian (Caisse de depôt et placement de Québec 18,167%), American (Aero Investment 10 %) and Singaporean (Malton Investments Pte Ltd. 18,167%) investors led by HOCHTIEF AirPort GmbH (49,666%). Currently, the two terminals of the airport are home to 31 airlines, which transported nearly 8.9 million passengers to more than 92 destinations in 40 countries in 2011.