New direct flight between Budapest and Seoul

Korean Air, the national airline of South Korea, will operate one direct flight a week between Budapest and Seoul until October 25 and two direct flights a week during the winter season, with plans to increase this to three flights a week next summer. 

The airline will operate the route with the 269-seat Boeing B787-900 Dreamliner. The new service will bring the total number of seats available between the two cities to 2,000 per week this season.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó pointed out that South Korean companies are now the third-largest investor community in the country, with trade turnover reaching a record high of USD 5 billion last year and growing by 20 percent in the first six months of this year, MTI reports.   

The launch of the flights is also expected to bring a significant increase in tourist traffic, after 22,000 South Korean visitors spent more than 100,000 nights in Hungary this year, reaching the level before the coronavirus outbreak, the minister said.

Chris Dinsdale, CEO of Budapest Airport, said that the new flights to Seoul are of particular importance for the Hungarian economy and tourism. Between January and May 2022, four times as many South Korean guests visited Hungary as in the same period last year, and the number of guest nights increased by 87 percent.

Since February 2020, Korean Air has operated nearly 300 dedicated cargo flights between Budapest and Seoul, a service now available to passengers.