Rural Hungary

I'm sure I can speak for everybody and say you're welcome Jacky, hope you have a wonderful holiday

Les and Jenn

NOT SURE IF ALL OF YOU ARE AWARE BUT WIZZAIR HAVE STARTED FLIGHTS TO DEBRECEN FROM JUNE !!! COULD BALATON BE NEXT ????

Les and Jenn

NOT SURE IF ANY OF YOU KNOW THIS BUT WIZZAIR HAVE JUST ANNOUNCED FLIGHTS TO DEBRECEN THREE TIMES A WEEK FROM JUNE - MAYBE BALATON WILL BE NEXT ??????
ANYONE GOT ANY EMAIL ADDRESSES FOR WIZZAIR - IF SO CAN YOU POST THEM ON HERE AND I WILL GET EMAILING - MAYBE A GOOD IDEA FOR ALL TO TRY (NEVER KNOW THEY MIGHT GET THE MESSAGE)
THANKS
JENN

Rural Hungary

Apparently, Heviz have now taken over the running of the airport. The airport will be renamed Heviz-Balaton and ran by a 100% municipality owned company.

John Gilbert

Sounds encouraging - maybe they can provide stable future & reasonable landing fees for the long term benefit of Heviz hotels & others.

Rural Hungary

Hope so, would be wonderful for the area - especially if flights to the UK are resumed.

Les and Jenn

Hi
Is there anyone that we could lobby to see if we can get something moving??

Rural Hungary

It might be worth making contact with the Mayor of Heviz, though I am sure he is already aware of the demand for flights from the UK and would assume they will/have approached the relevant airlines.
Would do any harm I suppose to contact Ryanair and Wizzair again as they seem to be the most likely candidates

Goo

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the act of Huddini, work and heavy studies etc.

Well I was very dissapointed with the Hungarian government for not assisting Malev and leaving us to the mercy of the dispicable service of Ryanair at nations flagship airport and terminal.

On the point of flights from UK to Sarmellek; I can not see Ryanair flying there at all, not while they are flying to Ferihegy T2. Why should they split their business. PErsonally I would rather fly Easyjet and pay a little extra.
Most Ryanair passangers I spoke to since Malev closed, state that Ryanair was their last choice and they were travelling to West Balaton and they would much rather fly to Sarmellek!
I don't see the issues of Sarmellek resolving any time soon, unless the attitude of the local government changes. I read here that they have taken control of running Sarmellek airport. Well that's good news. Now perhaps they can do some real work and go negotiate some flights into Sarmellek.
And then we can see if the proof is in the Gulash !!

I am looking forward to going to Balaton again in 10 days time, but as I will spend the whole of August there, I am driving this time.
Best regards to everyone.
Goo

OGSG

Goo: Did you get my private message?

Goo

Hi OGSG!

Yeah I just got it today! I replied PM!
Regards to all,

Goo

Rural Hungary

Ryanair split their business before - granted they didn't have as many flights from Budapest at the time - and never had any problems with filling seats on the Balaton flights. Easyjet aren't interested, Wizzair would be a more likely alternative. I'm sure Heviz are in talks with one of the above though, obviously, nothing is going to happen this year but I would expect to hear snippets in the media around August, September if anything was going to happen next Spring.

Have a safe journey over

tonydilihaz

Dear Forum Members,

has anyone ever suggested the expats actually enticing an airline to fly into Sarmellek, rather than just hoping it will happen?

I was surprised to see the number of Italians going home down the M70 in time for the start of school. it made me realise just how many are holidaying in Hungary.

We all know that apart from short weekend breaks in Budapest, there is no serious promotion in Britain of Hungary as a holiday destination.

What if a committee of Balaton Brits got together, selected hotels around Balaton, arranged for a rota of 'reps' for British visiting, sorted out a brochure and then contacted a small ATOL travel company to organise a couple (at first) charter flights.

A 747-300 only holds about 120 people which is not many families, so we are not talking large scale here.

We all know the attraction of Hungary is good weather, friendly people and low cost. In cash-strapped Britain, this combination may be worth a punt to families pee-ed off by this year's weather.

Having contacted the ATOL, it is thene a marketing excercise to put the holidays into travel agants.

The upshot of all this slog (and a bit of money) is that Balaton will pop up on the radar in UK. If people enjoy their holidays here, word will spread, business will increase and charter flight frequency will increase. Sooner or later, one of the scheduled carriers will notice and you will have a chance of at least summer flights to go to and fro. In the meantime, as 'bums on seats' is important to the plane operators, hitching a ride on the charter flight will always be possible.

Any of you guys out there think this may be worth a shot?

fidobsa

I've also noticed quite a few Italian registered cars on the motorway, although some might just be passing through from other countries. As I see it, the language barrier is the biggest difficulty faced by any attempt to broaden the scope of tourism in Hungary. Brits like going to Spain or Greece or even Bulgaria as most people working in the resorts speak English. I had a visit from 3 young Lithuanians who left their car here while they did a cycling tour of Croatia, Slovenia and a bit of Italy. When they returned to collect their car they seemed a bit dismissive of Hungary, compared to the other countries: "Oh yes, Hungary, that's that place where nobody speaks English!"

tonydilihaz

My dad used to have a timeshare in Calpe, Spain. Presently my son lives in Mallorca, married to a Mallorcan girl with 3 grandsons. My wife & I visit 3 or 4 times a year and occupy villas on the same complex as his; most are owned by Brits. All of them have a big house file showing where to go, what shops speak English, good restaurants etc. I see no reason why if we ever did what I (and perhaps others before me) suggested, we could not give each holidaymaker a similar pack. Also a Balaton Brits reps rota would ensure any requests for help would be furnished.

Most holidaymakers want the sun, sea (or Balaton), decent not too adventurous food and some cheapish booze. The market would be for families on perhaps 1/2 board (felpanzio?), not boozy groups of youngsters; leave them to the stag/hens in Budapest and Prague.

If this developed, not only would there be flights to Balaton, but Brits buying properties. My son calls himself "The British Plumber", only works within 5 miles of Cala d'Or and has 600 CUSTOMERS! All brits with holiday homes. there's a lesson for us all.