Debrecen International Airport

Debrecen International Airport[2] (IATA: DEB, ICAO: LHDC) is the international airport of Debrecen in the Hajdú-Bihar County of Hungary. It is the second largest airport in Hungary, after Budapest and ahead of Hévíz–Balaton. Debrecen is the second largest city in Hungary, after Budapest and ahead of Szeged. DEB is located 5 km (3.1 mi) south southwest[1] of the city center and also easily accessible to adjacent regions of Romania and Ukraine.

"LHDC" redirects here. For the codec, see LHDC (codec).

Debrecen International Airport

Debreceni nemzetközi repülőtér
Summary
OperatorAirport Debrecen Kft.
ServesDebrecen, Hungary
Hub forAeroexpress Regional
Elevation AMSL110 m / 361 ft
Coordinates47°29′20″N 021°36′55″E
Websitedebrecenairport.com
Map
DEB is located in Hungary
DEB
DEB
Location of the airport in Hungary
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
04R/22L 2,500 8,202 Concrete
Helipads
Number Length Surface
m ft
H1 40 131 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Passengers381 391
Passenger change 16–17Increase 19.87%
Source: Hungarian AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]

History
Members of the Royal Hungarian Air Force at Debrecen Airport, 1940

The history of Debrecen Airport goes back to the early 20th Century. The first official regular flight carrying mail took off in 1930. Subsequently, the Airport served sport and military purposes. From 1930, it had remarkable domestic traffic serving flights from Debrecen to Budapest and to other major cities in Hungary. During World War II it was the base of a Hungarian bombing squad.

Between 1946 and 1968, Debrecen Airport functioned also as an emergency airfield for Budapest Airport. Following World War II, the Soviet air force had control over the airport until 1990. The political transition brought the revival of the airport and international civilian traffic was launched together with sports aviation.

In May 1991, Soviet troops vacated the airport and handed it over to the Hungarian government. In 1994, the Debrecen Municipal Government realized the need to develop the airport and included it in its development plan. The city purchased the airport and has been steadily developing it.

By 2004, the city of Debrecen had invested 3.5 billion forints to purchase, operate, and continually develop Debrecen Airport.

On 18 June 2012, Wizz Air launched its scheduled service between Debrecen and London-Luton, initially with 3 weekly flights. In 2012–2013, Tatarstan Airlines operated a bi-weekly flight to Moscow-Domodedovo. After the disaster of Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363 which forced Tatarstan Airlines into bankruptcy, the route was taken over by UTair Aviation. In 2014, due to souring Russia–European Union relations, a number of punitive sanctions were implemented vice versa that forced UTair to cancel the flight.

In 2015, Wizz Air established a cadet pilot school at the airport[3] under the company Pharma-Flight Kft which also researches and produces pharmaceutical products for flight staff. Wizz Air in 2015 announced they would base one Airbus A320 at Debrecen.[4]

The construction of a new "innovation and incubation centre" at the airport which would host the new terminal on its ground floor began in June 2015.[5] and scheduled to open in 2017.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular year-round and seasonal services at the airport:[6]

AirlinesDestinations
Lufthansa Munich
Smartwings Seasonal charter: Chania[7]
Wizz Air Eindhoven, Larnaca, London–Luton, Rome-Fiumicino (begins 13 December 2023),[8] Tel Aviv
Seasonal: Antalya,[9] Burgas,[10] Corfu, Hurghada (begins 29 October 2023)

Statistics

Top destinations
Busiest routes (2019)
RankAirportPassengers handled
2018/19
1United Kingdom London-Luton154,819
2Netherlands Eindhoven48,743
3Israel Tel Aviv44,671
4France Paris-Beauvais44,154
5Germany Dortmund38,234
6Spain Barcelona33,801
7United Kingdom Doncaster/Sheffield32,703
8Russia Moscow-Vnukovo31,659
9Italy Milan-Malpensa30,562
10Switzerland Basel/Mulhouse28,769

Annual passenger numbers
Annual passenger traffic at DEB airport. See Wikidata query.
Passengers
handled[lower-alpha 1]		Passenger
% Change
2004 14,476n/a
2005 33,1190128.78% Increase
2006 36,939011.53% Increase
2007 42,900016.13% Increase
2008 42,6500−0.58% Decrease
2009 25,0600−41.24% Decrease
2010 24,4150−2.57% Decrease
2011 19,1350−21.62% Decrease
2012 47,7460149.52% Increase
2013 129,2310170.66% Increase
2014 145,709012.75% Increase
2015 172,212018.19% Increase
2016 284,965065.47% Increase
2017 318 184[11]011,01% Increase
2018 381 391019,87% Increase
2019 601 236057,64% Increase
2020 122 7420 % Decrease
2021 75 7160 % Decrease
2022 249 4480229,45% Increase
Source: KSH,[12] OpenPR[13]

Ground transportation

Bus
DKV Bus

Buses Airport1 and Airport2 are operated by the local public transport company, called Debreceni Közlekedési Vállalat (DKV). Airport1 runs between the airport and the main train station of Debrecen, where connections are available to local, regional and international buses, trams and trains, while Airport2 runs between the Airport and the northern end of the city. The schedule of the buses are matched with the departure and arrival times of the planes at the airport, serving all inbound and outbound flights and can be used with any of the regular DKV tickets or passes.[14]

A direct bus connection was established in March 2016 between Nagyvárad (Oradea) and Debrecen International Airport. The schedule is matched with the arrival and departure times of the planes.

Road

The street leading to the airport terminal is accessible from Route 47 only. Passengers arriving at the airport can get to their destinations by taxi for a fix tariff within city limits.

Train

The airport has a recently reconstructed direct rail connection, but it is used for freight moving only. It will be made suitable for passenger traffic only if there will be a reasonable demand for the construction sometime in the future.[15]

See also

Notes
  1. Number of passengers including domestic, international and transit

References
  1. EAD Basic
  2. debrecenairport.com retrieved 18 January 2023
  3. Wizz Air to partner with Hungarian flight school, pilotcareernews.com, 23 September 2014
  4. Wizz Air announces 22nd base Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, wizzair.com, 21 May 2015.
  5. Cornerstone laying ceremony of Debrecen Airport development project Archived 23 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine, debrecenairport.com, 16 June 2015
  6. debrecenairport.com - Destinations retrieved 9 September 2020
  7. "Smartwings Hungary NS23 Charter Network Additions".
  8. https://x.com/seanm1997/status/1709914600714490280?s=46
  9. "Wizz Air ÚJ JÁRATOK Magyarországról Isztambulba és Antalyába". 19 January 2023.
  10. "Wizz Air apre nuove rotte. Heviz sul Lago Balaton e un nuovo scalo" (in Hungarian). 25 March 2022.
  11. Újabb rekord a debreceni reptéren, tíz év alatt megtízszerezték az utasszámot, dehir.hu, 2018. január 2.
  12. "Repülőterek forgalmi adatai (2004-2015)" (in Hungarian). KSH. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  13. "RECORD PASSENGER NUMBERS AT DEBRECEN AIRPORT IN 2016". OpenPR. 10 January 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  14. Módosul a reptéri közösségi közlekedés, elindul az éjszakai villamos-közlekedés, dkv.hu, 15 December 2015
  15. Papp László: ha elkészül a főpályaudvar, összekötjük a repülőtérrel – videóval, dehir.hu, 13 November 2015

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