Hévíz–Balaton Airport

Hévíz–Balaton Airport (IATA: SOB, ICAO: LHSM), previously also known as Sármellék International Airport (Hungarian: Sármelléki nemzetközi repülőtér), is an international airport in Hungary located west of Lake Balaton, 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) south-southwest[1] of the village of Sármellék, Zala County and Keszthely. It gains importance due to the proximity of Lake Balaton, Hungary's most important holiday resort and the thermal spas of Hévíz and Zalakaros.

Hévíz–Balaton Airport

Hévíz-Balaton Repülőtér
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorHévíz-Balaton Airport Kft.
ServesHévíz and Lake Balaton, Hungary
LocationSármellék
Elevation AMSL124 m / 408 ft
Coordinates46°41′11″N 017°09′33″E
Websitehevizairport.com
Map
SOB is located in Hungary
SOB
SOB
Location within Hungary
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
16/34 2,500 8,202 Concrete
Helipads
Number Length Surface
m ft
H1 3 × 45 10 × 150 Concrete
Source: Hungarian AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]

History

A military airport was located here in the 1940s. It was paved in the 1950s and functioned as a Hungarian military airport until 1960, and as a Soviet military airport between 1960 and the autumn of 1990. The current runways were constructed in 1982.

Sármellék International Airport had operated as a public airport since 1991 and became the second international airport of the country on 15 May 2002 after Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport. The airport is owned by the local governments of Sármellék and Zalavár since August 2002, operated by an Irish-Hungarian investment group, Cape Clear Aviation Ltd., since 2004.

In December 2005, Ryanair announced three weekly scheduled flights from London–Stansted, but the route was cut in October 2006, along with flights from Hahn.

Due to financial problems, the airport closed over the winter period 2008–09, then closed indefinitely on 10 October 2009. A new buyer was then sought for the facility.[2] It reopened, however, in April 2010. In the next two winters it closed, but it reopened again for the spring and summer months of 2011 and 2012.

Since April 2012, the airport has been known by its new name: Hévíz–Balaton Airport. During summer 2022, Wizz Air flew to Dortmund, but the route was cancelled later in the same year.[3]

Airlines and destinations

As of December 2022, there are no longer any regular commercial passenger flights to or from Heviz-Balaton. The airport is served by summer seasonal charter services from Germany.[4][5]

Ground transport

A government decision in 2016 set the deadline of 2022 for the construction of a railway ring around Lake Balaton. As of 2017, there is still no decision as to whether a railway station at the airport would be part of the Balaton Rail Ring.

Statistics
Annual passenger traffic at SOB airport. See Wikidata query.
Year Passengers[6] Change
2004 21 077 n/a
2005 25 932 +23%
2006 63 627 +145,34%
2007 105 697 +66,11%
2008 102 131 −3,37%
2009 15 075 −85,23%
2010 14 828 −1,63%
2011 18 191 +22,68%
2012 18 831 +3,51%
2013 25 015 +32,84%
2014 28 588 +14,28%
2015
15 748
 -38,45%
2016
17 663
 +12.16%

References
  1. "EAD Basic". Ead.eurocontrol.int.
  2. Blazej, Jan (January–February 2010). "Balaton Airport Closure". Airports of the World (27): 14. ISSN 1747-4396.
  3. "Wizz Air July - Oct 2022 A321neo Network Additions".
  4. "Fluganreise nach Heviz 2023".
  5. https://hevizairport.com/en/timetables/
  6. "Repülőterek forgalmi adatai (2004-2015)" (in Hungarian). KSH. Retrieved 15 April 2016.

Media related to Sármellék International Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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