Wizzair staff took advantage of downtime and an empty Budapest airport to remind us “we need a holiday“. Wizz Dance from WATER FILM GROUP on Vimeo. Budapest seems to be running less than half a dozen daily flights currently hence the very empty looking airport. Wizz are flyinga very small number of flights. All passengers must wear a face mask and cabin crew (as demonstrated) will wear masks and gloves throughout the entire flight. As for the song? In the book The Complete Guide to Her Music Madonna, Rikky Rooksby states that “”Holiday’ is as…
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Europe’s LCC Wizz is 14 -plans to keep on Wizzing!
I have been fascinated with Wizzair for over a decade. They have been aiming for dominance of European skies from their Hungarian base. Celebrating their 14th birthday this month, they now operate 80 aircraft from 19 bases in ten countries across Central and Eastern Europe flying to a massive 140 cities in 50 countries. They have now flown 100 million people. For most of its history, Wizzair reportedly lost money. So much so that in 2009, they were voted by Bookmaker Paddy Power as the next airline likely to go bust. Interesting that both airlines Wizz were…
2015 CAPA Aviation Awards in Helsinki
Airline Finnair received their brand new Airbus A350 in time to show it off at this year’s CAPA 2015 World Aviation Summit in Helsinki, Finland. Presentations and discussions at the event organised by CAPA (Centre for Aviation) addressed Open skies, Subsidies, Ownership, Alliances, Distribution and Productivity. In the midst of the event were announcements for CAPA’s 2015 Aviation awards: Ethiopian – Airline of the Year for their leadership in the African market. IndiGo – CAPA Low Cost Airline of the Year Qantas -the CAPA Airline Turnaround of the Year Qantas CEO Alan Joyce named CAPA Airline Chief Executive of…
Beautiful Budapest
I first visited Budapest exactly twenty years to the day of my most recent visit. Communism had been gone for only three years and Budapest was ditching the old Socialist restrictions and emerging as a great city. Scarily, on this trip in 2012, -the agent who checked me into my hotel this trip had not even been born when I made my first visit. Today, Budapest is definitely part of a free market economy. I have now been to Budapest five times since my first starry eyed visit and this city remains one of my all time…
Exit Row “safety”?
I was flying Turkish Air from Istanbul to Budapest. I have already commented in a previous post that I find it odd that on this flight English and Turkish are used but no one on the Cabin Crew seems to speak Hungarian. I was seated in the Emergency Exit aisle. Next to me in the middle and window seats were two gentlemen who spoke only Hungarian. One of the flight attendants came down for a briefing. She says in Turkish followed by English: “You are aware that you are sitting in the Emergency Exit?” Middle Seat guy beams at…
Turkish Delight -Great Trip + Best Economy Meal Ever!
Turkish airlines are the 83rd airline I have ever flown. Member of the Star Alliance since 2008, they have been expanding rapidly in the last eight years and now fly to over 200 destinations with 160 aircraft. Turkish Airlines have been awarded Europe’s Best Airline and Southern Europe’s Best Airline twice in 2011 and 2012. Interestingly, this week, Lufthansa expressed an interest in either merging with or forming a closer alliance with Turkish Airlines. Booking 5 out of 10 I booked through online travel agents who were offering the same flights at a much reduced cost compared to the Turkish Airlines own website. I also…
Slow Train in Hungary
Two weeks ago, I blogged about my High Speed ICE experience. Today’s Trip Report is a little of a contrast. A much more slower trip from Budapest, the capital of Hungary to Baja, a small city south of Budapest. Booking: 3 out of 10 MAV Start has the most complex train booking system I have ever experienced. The site also froze a few times. It does provide all of the fare and train options on the one screen so you can see which train has the cheapest seats and make up your mind easily about tickets. Eventually,…
Tuesday Trip Report: My last Malév flight
With the collapse of Malév this seems like the only time to post about my last Malev flight in July 2009 – 2.5 years ago from Rome to Budapest. Booking: 10 out of 10 My ticket was actually booked in conjunction with a Cathay Pacific fare (Malév were part of the One World alliance). I travelled to Budapest from Australia via Hong Kong and Roma. From my visits to Malév ‘s website, I found it to be streamlined, straightforward and effective. Check In: 7 out of 10 Signposting for the Malév check in at Rome’s Leonardo Da…
Malév Over Budapest
In doing some research about failed Hungarian carrier Malév, I came across this amazing video. On August 20, 2006 a Malév 737 followed by a Sky Europe plane flew at a low altitude over Budapest, Hungary. This ten minute video has some stunning view of this beautiful city. The two planes then flew side by side. I assume it was done for the sixtieth anniversay of the founding of the successor to Malév. Ironically, both airlines are gone now.
Malév Malaise- Hungary’s flag carrier demise
After several horror years of airline failures globally, 2011 was a relatively quiet year with only a small number of airline names vanishing. 2012 has already been busy, however, with the collapse of Spanair and Cirrus in January. This week I was sad to see the collapse of Malév, the Hungarian flag carrier. The airline has been on the edge of collapse for years. Shutdown was triggered by a European Commission order to repay €300 million in “illegal” government subsidies and forced when Tel Aviv and Dublin airports grounded two of Malév’s jets. On closure day, 30 000 passengers were stranded. The airline had…
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