Pér Airport, near the city of Győr in north-west Hungary, has been officially opened to traffic after an expansion project costing some EUR 6.6 million enabled the take-off and landing of Boeing-737 and Airbus 320 airliners. The project was realised through cooperation between Audi, the Hungarian Government and the City of Győr.

"The development of north-west Hungary is proof of the success of our re-industrialization policy”, State Secretary Péter Szijjártó from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said at the event on Thursday, emphasising that regional airports have a significant effect on a region’s ability to attract capital.

He pointed out that “Hungary was at the edge of a precipice when the new government was formed in 2010", and the decision made at the time was to focus on the transformation of the country into the production centre of Europe, thereby emerging from the crisis stronger than before.

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He explained that the automotive industry has activated the country and given a huge boost to the development of certain regions, thanks to which the country has become one of the continent’s vehicle manufacturing centres. Győr-based Audi Hungaria Motor Ltd. has contributed significantly to the fact that both the number of people in employment and the number of taxpayers in Hungary is currently at the highest level in 22 years, he added.

The State Secretary said the Government is providing its full support to increasing air passenger traffic and accordingly, together with the company operating the airport, regular negotiations are underway with Wizz Air to ensure that as many European destinations as possible can be reached from the airport as soon as possible.

Mayor of Győr Zsolt Borkai emphasised at the event that the city would like to move to the next level after the realisation of the development project in cooperation with the Government and Audi, since the city considers it important to develop passenger traffic at the airport.

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Thomas Faustmann, Managing Director of Audi Hungaria Motor Ltd, pointed out that the airport near Győr had handled 165,000 passengers during the last ten years, including 30,000 passengers last year alone. He said that company operations had become significantly more cost-efficient thanks to the direct flight between the city and Audi’s headquarters in Ingolstadt. Employees are saving some 120,000 working hours-a-year compared to road transport and 70,000 working hours compared to indirect flights.

According to information provided earlier, the development of Pér Airport included the extension of the 30-metre-wide runway from 1450 meters to 2030 metres, in addition to which 100-metre safety zones were constructed at both ends of the runway. The taxiway has been widened from 10.5 metres to 15 metres, a new landing system was constructed, the airport’s runway maintenance and service capacity was increased and both a hangar and reception area were also added to the airport.

According to preliminary estimates, the cost of construction works was EUR 4.17 million and that of the landing system amounted to EUR 1.4 million, while the planned cost of the support facilities and purchasing the necessary equipment was EUR 580,000 and EUR 500,000, respectively.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)