Rural Hungary

Well it is chocolate after all, with such high stakes we must all play by the rules

Les and Jenn

Waiting game is killing me - why are Ryanair taking so long to put the flights up??????

Rural Hungary

Hi Jenn, as yet there has been no official announcement by Ryanair or SCD group with regards to next years schedule. I could be and probably will be wrong but I would expect an announcement from one or the other before the flights go live.
Who was it from Ryanair that you spoke with?

John Gilbert

Seem to remember from I don't know when & where that they post up new routes only three months before they fly - so if it starts in April the booking site could be changed in Jan.


I'll believe it when I see it - and am hoping its true. At the ready to book a minimum of 6 return flights in 2011 if this gets back up & running.

It would be great to avoid Ferihegy & the drive.

Les and Jenn

Totally agree with you John and I will be booking loads of flights for us and our family. I got the news first from our Estate Agent from Capital 99 then I emailed Flybalaton and got a response from someone called Henrietta who confirmed this - but I have since emailed again to ask if they know when Ryanair will put the flights up for sale and have heard nothing !!!!!
So frustrating - I have credit card to the ready !!! I do hope that the delay doesn't mean that it wont happen - trouble is there is no way (unless I am missing it) to email Ryanair !!! and I have wrote before and never received an answer.

Rural Hungary

Hi Jenn, don't worry too much as I don't think there is a delay. Originally, at the end of October, an announcement was made that negotiations were underway. At that time, they were anticipated to take 2-3 weeks. It is only just over the three week period. If the contracts have been signed, it may be that they wish to coordinate the announcement with the relaunch of the website, flight availability on the Ryanair site etc.
Locally, however, comments in the original interviews have been taken out of context by many. My German neighbours announced to us that come April, Ryanair would fly from Germany to Balaton, when I asked her where she heard this, it transpired that a German newspaper had translated the original interviews but written it as though the contracts were signed and sealed, only mentioning at the bottom that negotiations were still ongoing

Ryanair can be very slow in updating their site, they still have Budapest listed and when they pulled out of Balaton last year, it was months before they removed all mention of it from the site.

Just keep checking....... Brian still has that chocolate up for grabs

John Gilbert

Lets hope no news is good news - anybody heard anything more?

Les and Jenn

NOT HEARD A THING AND RYANAIR HAVE ADDED SOME NEW ROUTES TO CANARY ISLANDS BUT NOT BALATON !!!!!! AM GETTING FED UP NOW AND WONDERING IF I SHOULD JUST BOOK BUDAPEST WITH EASYJET BEFORE THEIR PRICES GO UP !!!!

Rural Hungary

Hi Les and Jenn, no, there have been a few "claims" flying around that this spokesman has confirmed this, that and the other. However, I stand to be corrected but as far as I have heard, there is still no official confirmation from either SCD or Ryanair. The last statement given was the one mentioned in previous posts.
Apparently, charter flights from Moscow have been scheduled for December 2010. Perhaps this is to test the feasibility of year round flights and Ryanair might be waiting to see the results? Who knows!! It is getting a bit late in the day and a bit disconcerting that neither company is confirming the apparently "done deal".

I don't know what to suggest Jenn, it's a tricky, if you book now and they later announce flights to Balaton you will be kicking yourself - though, if you leave it and later have to book Easyjet, you could end up paying double... not an easy decision

Rural Hungary

Just received a message from John, a forum user, he has an email from Flybalaton confirming that Ryanair will be flying from London to Balaton as of April 2011. At present they do not further details or times, which would explain why they are not yet listed on the Ryanair site.

Les and Jenn

AM GETTING THOROUGHLY FED UP NOW AND SERIOUSLY THINKING OF JUST BOOKING MY FLIGHTS TO BUDAPEST - ANYONE ANY IDEA WHAT THE WAIT IS????

Rural Hungary

I know how you feel... Frustrating to say the least. There was a local news report this week but it didn't tell us anything that we didn't already know - Ryanair, Germanwings and Aeroflot will be flying in as of April (apparently announced by SCD and Ryanair in Budapest). A couple of weeks ago it was announced that SCD was forming some sort of consortium with another Hungarian company - the new company would hold several tourism related assets, including Flybalaton. Sorry I can't be more specific but much was lost in translation! Therefore, I concluded that the formation of this new company was causing the delay in finalising the deal.
Hopefully, if that is the case and now that the holidays are out the way, things will happen quickly as they are cutting it fine

John Gilbert

What a way to run a business! Both FlyBalaton & RyanAir will miss out on spring and summer bookings due to the continuing uncertainty - that is if RyanAir are comming back?

Rural Hungary

I know, it doesn't look promising! Hopefully it is the merger that has caused the delay though had contracts been signed pre-merger (as implied by SCD and Ryanair) I do not understand why this would prevent Ryanair from selling flights hmmm

Rural Hungary

26-Jan-11 Ryanair Announces 4 New Manchester Routes to Alicante, Faro, Madrid & Tenerife

So if contracts have been signed and everything is done and dusted - as SCD Group claim, why has the Stanstead - Balaton route not been announced by Ryanair?

I don't doubt it will happen but I am beginning to suspect that SCD Group may have jumped the gun somewhat