A Far Eastern flight can depart from Debrecen
The magnitude of the working capital interested in the Far East justifies the launch of a scheduled flight between Debrecen and East Asia. Preparatory negotiations have also started with Wizz Air, among other players
Levente Magyar told Figyelő.hu. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Affairs made this statement to hälölo.hu at an event held in connection with the 10th anniversary of the launch of Wizz Air’s first scheduled flight to Luthon.
Hungarian He pointed out the need for flight development as a reason: the direction of the movement of working capital has already significantly changed investment: the majority of it now comes not from the West, but from the Far East. The consequences of this must also be taken into account for air transport, and preparations must be made to carry out the tasks at an appropriate level.
This is especially the case in Debrecen, where working capital equivalent to ten percent of Hungary’s GDP has already arrived. Companies from the Far East have already been prominently represented in the investor circle, and with the establishment of the Chinese CATL, which owns 35 percent of the world’s electric battery manufacturing market, the predominance of East Asian capital in the Civic-dominated region is clearly evident. /Remember: Semcorp is already building its factory for battery cells, and CATL, a few weeks ago, made the biggest investment ever in Hungary: its production base in Debrecen will be realized with an investment of more than 7 billion euros. But the South Korean EcoPro is also planning a huge investment, which, according to its announcement last December, intends to install a cathode factory in the city of Cívis with an investment of HUF 264 billion.
The state became the majority owner of Debrecen Airport at the beginning of the year, with the undisclosed aim of speeding up its development. With this transaction, Debrecen became the only Hungarian-owned airport, where the state is planning a hundred billion HUF development within half a decade. The construction of a new passenger terminal and runway is also included in the development package in order to adequately serve the potentially increasing traffic. According to Magyar Levente, they are planning to build an airport in Debrecen of a similar standard to the Cluj airport. It is estimated that by 2030 the current traffic of two hundred and fifty thousand will multiply and reach 2.5 million passengers a year.
The implementation of the ambitious development plans is by definition not independent of the war situation or the consequences arising from it, but the aim is to stabilize the aviation capacities, Debrecen’s regional leadership role, and the airport to remain emphatically able to occupy the city in the south-east – become one of the economic bastions of the European region – explained the deputy minister.
He reminded me that because of the war, the government is trying to protect its citizens with an intervention worth thousands of billions of forints, which means a great burden, but there are tasks that cannot be abandoned even under such circumstances, and preserving the functionality of the Debrecen airport is one of them.
According to Levente Magyar, Debrecen’s performance is unique:
in recent years, it has been able to attract around ten cities of the Hungarian annual GDP in terms of economic investment value. Just as the success story of Wizz Air and its cooperation with Debrecen are also unique.
Regarding the airline’s successes, the CEO József Váradi explained: currently, Wizz Air is the fastest growing airline in Europe, they have the youngest fleet, the largest aircraft order book, and their liquid capital is 1.6 billion euros, which will stabilize the company’s position for 8-10 years. Wizz Air currently has 170 aircraft, but has orders placed for 435, making them the world’s largest order book. With the delivery of these, the number of the company’s fleet will triple, and its average age will decrease from the current five years to three years. Regarding the order book, he emphasized that this is an invaluable competitive advantage in the current crisis situation, because in the economic environment determined by this war and crisis, Airbus and Boeing only take orders for eight to ten years.
They reminded me in connection with the previous corona virus epidemic that their company developed even then: they increased their fleet with 60 new aircraft that leave a better carbon footprint. He said that their filfia will not change in the future, that is, they still want their low ticket prices at low costs. Their goal is to be the cheapest, lowest-cost airline in Europe.
Regarding the development of the number of passengers, József Váradi said,
In 2019, 40 million passengers were transported, but this year, 53 million must be reached, which means an increase of 33 percent.
Regarding their business in Debrecen, József Váradi explained that after the launch of the Luton flight in 2012, they still fly to dozens of destinations from the Debrecen airport, which has been an airbase for Wizz Air since 2014. He pointed out that their success is in no small part linked to Debrecen, the fastest developing region of the region, and the city and its airport are prominently featured in their further plans.
The existence of the airport is the competitive advantageSince the start of Wizz Air’s Debrecen-Luthon flight in 2012, it has transported 1.1 million passengers from Debrecen, and the same number have arrived there on the airline’s flight. The airport, which handles international traffic and has scheduled flights, played a huge role in the fact that 10 billion euros of working capital arrived in Debrecen during these ten years. The existence of the airport is a competitive advantage, one of the guarantees that Debrecen will develop into one of the strongest regional economic centers in the region by 2030, Debrecen Mayor László Papp pointed out. |