More than six hundred thousand passengers are the destination at Debrecen airport
From January 1, 2023, Tamás Király will manage the business company that operates Debrecen International Airport, Debrecen International Airport Kft. One of the goals of the new managing director is for Debrecen International Airport to once again reach the record passenger traffic of 600,000 passengers seen in 2019, and to be able to handle even multiples of that number in the future thanks to the planned developments. We talked to Tamas Király.
You are no stranger to the profession, having previously worked in several positions in the field of aviation. What were these and how can you use your experience in your current job?
I started my career as an airport supervisor at the aviation authority, where I was involved in the professional supervision of airports. This included both very small and very large airports. I visited Debrecen quite a few times, as well as Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport. After that, I moved to Debrecen in 2018, during which time I worked as a manager responsible for legal compliance. During the change of management in 2019, my responsibilities increased with the position of flight safety director, as the authority also deals with the integration of flight safety management systems, to which in 2021 the function of quality management manager was also connected. This includes the establishment of the quality management system of the airport operator, which is based on customer satisfaction. The purpose of this was so that I could see what the airport’s complaint handling system is like. As the deputy of the former managing director, I had to look at the operation of the airport from a higher level. In these different interdependent areas, I developed the view that I was able to look at the operation of the airport on a systemic level. At the time I thought I could see through to AZ, but now in this position I can say that I have seen half of it.
Debrecen airport is not very big, but you can see that it has an increasingly important role.
It’s really not big if we look at it globally, but it’s the second largest international airport in Hungary, and that’s a big word. At the domestic level, this is a prestigious position. An airport located in another county seat cannot say this about itself, and I think that the traffic and operational structure of other rural airports do not come close to Debrecen.
The airport currently serves 5 permanent destinations, including Cyprus, London, Tel-Aviv, Eindhoven and Munich. This offer will be supplemented by the holiday flights included in our summer schedule, among which Burgas, Palma de Mallorca and Corfu can already be booked for the 2023 season from June.
For the time being, I would wait for the information about what kind of palette we will be appearing with this year. Permanent and possible new destinations are under negotiation, and we are also negotiating with several travel agencies regarding charter flights.
Even if we cannot say these destinations, is it possible to know how they decide on a new flight? In the comments on social media, you can see that there are plenty of ideas for where the plane should go.
It is important to point out that it is not us, as the airport operator, who decide to open or cancel destinations, but the airlines, so for example we were sorry to learn that Wizz Air is canceling the Paris flight from the 2023 offer. We are supportive and can provide them with information during negotiations.
On the one hand, we conduct surveys, so for example, at the end of last year, more than 12,000 people completed our survey in just 3 weeks. Based on this, we can also see that there is interest in the new destinations of Debrecen International Airport, and that the traveling public wants to have some influence on where to travel, which is understandable.
In addition, the airlines carry out various market research activities, make analyses, and then see if there are any passengers from the surrounding airports who come from this region and might want to travel from there. And if enough passengers gather, there is a chance that a new flight will start. It is a complex process.
When will the new destinations be public?
It is expected that they will be public in March, but it is also possible that he will be able to announce them sooner. It all depends on how quickly we can negotiate with the airlines.
2022 was not an easy year, how did the Debrecen airport experience it?
Passenger traffic was much stronger than in previous years. During the period of Covid, in 2020 and 2021, the passenger traffic of the airport was greatly reduced. In the year 2021, we could count on 75 thousand passengers, but last year almost 250 thousand passengers visited us.
A kind of rise in the desire to travel has started again, but we have not yet reached the record level of 2019, when 600,000 passengers visited the Debrecen airport. The industry estimates gave the industry estimates taking into account the effects of Co that this forecast was built back to 2025. We can see from the numbers that there was some truth in this, but they did not take into account the wartime conditions. Here, close to the Ukrainian border, we also felt the impact of the war, but we hope that the previous passenger traffic will be restored soon.
In 2022, relatively many destinations were available from us in the summer schedule, among which, for example, WizzAir’s newly introduced Burgas flight reached very good load data. It is clear from the data that the Antalya flight in Turkey is still extremely popular, which is why the travel agency has increased the number of flights from one per week to three per week. Our current, permanent travel destinations were also present last year, with outstanding performance.
It can be said that many people like to travel from Debrecen, but is the reverse also true? How popular is Cívisváros as a destination?
Debrecen is an attractive tourist destination, because a lot of people from Germany, for example, come directly here in the summer for bathing and rehabilitation purposes, or perhaps to Hajdúszoboszlo. The city and the region are becoming more and more popular among those interested from Israel, in particular, a very impressive number of passengers arrived on the Bodrogkeresztúr miracle rabbi pilgrimage.
Due to the increased number of bookings, our Tel-Aviv flight will be available 4 times a week this year. In addition to its tourist power, the industrial and economic power of the city and the region is also outstanding, above all, the ever-increasing trend of business passengers turns up at the airport, to which the Lufthansa Munich flight contributes greatly.
One of its goals is to reach the 2019 record of 600,000 passengers. I assume that starting flights is only part of this, what about increasing the number of passengers?
That’s right, reaching new destinations is only part of it, and that’s only partially up to us.
It is important that greater emphasis should be placed on the promotion of the airport, awareness of the existence of the Debrecen airport and the destinations accessible from Debrecen should be made as wide as possible to satisfy the needs of a wide range of the traveling public. Emphasis must also be placed on the comfort of the passengers. In previous years, for example, the airport received quite a lot of criticism for excessive passenger security checks. We definitely want to improve this. Not by reducing the level of control, but by installing more modern equipment. With this, the control can be stricter so that the passengers simply perceive that the process is moving much better and faster, so the travel experience will also be better.
This year, we want to create a play corner so that families with small children can spend the 1-2 hour waiting time in a more fun way. A number of invisible but even more tangible developments will be implemented in 2023, which will increase the comfort of passengers.
Will the energy crisis override previously announced major developments, such as the construction of the new terminal and runway?
The energy crisis left its mark not only on aviation, but on every other industry. Everyone has to think about what plans were formulated earlier and along which lines it can be carried forward. The airport must develop in order to be able to function as comfortably as possible for the traveling public. We did not stop with the developments, but we will only be able to provide more information about their details later.
In connection with the energy crisis, it is also worth mentioning sustainability. What is it like at the airport?
In the past, it was also important to emphasize energy-efficient operation and reduce the carbon footprint. We have already worked on this along various industry recommendations.
For example, we install solar panels on the roof of the passenger terminal and the office building. This year, we will continue these developments and try additional solar panels, so that we can reach the highest electricity demand of the buildings in the year.
An important element of our green investments is our new, purely electric ground handling equipment, which is expected to arrive in the first half of the year. We would like to change our ground handling fleet to replace vehicles equipped with internal combustion engines with electric ones.
In addition to modernization, the availability of human resources is extremely important, as is supply. How is this related?
The issue of supply is very important. Especially because we are talking about a medium-sized airport where there are not 5-6 ground service organizations where employees can flow among themselves. On the one hand, it performs various tasks at the Debrecen airport, which is why we have already put a lot of emphasis in previous years on being able to keep our client companies and with development opportunities, to be close to them. In the summer season, we cooperate with several school cooperatives in order to have the necessary human resources even in those areas where there is no need for in-depth aviation professional knowledge. These collaborations still need to be developed, so we plan to organize future collaborations with their education.
Kata Vass