Perhaps everyone still remembers this bonmot of Malév advertising! Now there is hope again for the establishment of a national airline dr. According to Minister of Innovation and Technology László Palkovics.
"We strive for a negotiated solution, my assignment as a government commissioner is to carry out preparatory tasks. There is a consortium, a concession contract, in which everyone must comply with what they agreed to. If you can't or don't want to comply, then you have to change. We are ready to settle the situation." he told vasarnap.hu.
Not only do we want to acquire a share of ownership, we also want Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, the country's most important airport, to be majority Hungarian again. The success of restarting the economy depends to a significant extent on the boost in tourism, the quality of airport services is a key issue not only for passenger comfort, but also for the country's image. In 2005, the Gyurcsány government made the professionally completely wrong, economically unprofitable in the longer term, political decision, on the basis of which the Budapest airport was given a concession for seventy-five years to a foreign investor.
The government at the time did not think through what prominent role tourism could play in Hungary in the coming decades. In addition, the fact that this is the only major airport we have was not sufficiently considered. They didn't even consider what would happen if an owner came who doesn't really care about the Budapest airport.
The current ownership group sees only one thing in the airport: investment.
The airport's numbers have been good over the past ten years. However, all this did not happen because the airport itself was functioning well. But because Hungary and Budapest are attractive to both businessmen and tourists. The airport benefited from this,
however, the continuous expansion was not followed by the necessary increase in the level of services there.
It is a degree more difficult than it should be to create an effective transport policy, economic and tourism development, if the owner of our largest airport does not want to take part in these processes. That is why we say that if they cannot operate the Budapest airport in accordance with the legitimate expectations of the passengers, then let's talk and make an offer.
During the Gyurcsány government, another large state-owned company, MÁV-Cargo, also fell into foreign hands. The self-sacrificing, forward-thinking practice of the left, driven by momentary budgetary interests, is also to blame for the fact that MÁV Cargo came under Austrian ownership.
The Gyurcsánys managed to increase the debt stock of the national railway company to 300 billion forints together with the disposal of a profitable branch of business. Earlier, there were tentative negotiations here as well, it was suggested that the Hungarian State might step in or take back the company. So far nothing has come of these, in this area it may be more worthwhile to build a new company than to buy the old one.
If I have to compare what is more important, to have a large national railway transport company or to have the country's number one airport in national hands, it is clear that the latter enjoys priority. In order to successfully restart the economy, we are working to ensure that the Ferihegy airport can be returned to Hungarian ownership.
Source: MTI
Featured image: jetplanes.blog.hu
