Malév Hungarian Airlines

Malev redirects here. For the military unit, see Malev (military unit)

Malév Hungarian Airlines, (Hungarian: Magyar Légiközlekedési Vállalat, abbreviated Malév), is the flag carrier airline of Hungary and is based at Budapest Ferihegy International Airport. It is the principal Hungarian airline and flies to 50 cities in 34 countries worldwide. Malév has been a member of the Oneworld alliance since April 2007.^[1] Malév - the accent indicates that the E is long, and the first syllable is always stressed in Hungarian, so the name is pronounced MAH-layv.

History

Companies like Aero Rt. (founded 1910), Magyar Æeroforgalmi Rt. (MAEFORT) and Magyar Légiforgalmi Rt. (Malert) were spiritual forebears, but the devastation of World War II temporarily suspended all Hungarian civil aviation and these companies with it. The company's official founding date was March 29, 1946, when the Hungarian-Soviet Civil Air Transport Joint Stock Company (Magyar-Szovjet Légiforgalmi Rt. also known as Maszovlet) was formed. The initial fleet consisted of 21-seat Li-2 passenger aircraft (the Soviet-licensed DC-3) and 3-seat Po-2 "taxis", used for precision air mail: sacks of mail were dropped from the aircraft when flying over its destination. In 1950, Malév's operating base moved from Budaörs to the newly opened airport at Ferihegy, where it has remained.

Boeing 737-700

Boeing 737-700

On November 25, 1956, Hungary purchased all the Soviet shares of Maszovlet, and Malév was born. Operations gradually expanded, with flights extending to nearby countries and, following the 1968 purchase of jet-propelled Tupolev Tu-134s from the Soviet Union, across Europe and the Middle East. Even before the political changes of 1989 and the arrival of democracy, Malév had begun phasing out its Soviet-era planes with the introduction of the first western aircraft, a Boeing 737-200 on November 18, 1988.

The last Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft was withdrawn from service in 2001. In 2003, Malév began replacing its Boeing 737 Classic aircraft with 737 Next-Generation planes. It now runs a fleet of 18 Boeings Boeing 737s and one Boeing 767-300ER for long-haul flights, and several Fokker 70s and Canadair CRJ-200s for short-haul routes.

From 1999 to 2007, the Hungarian state property agency ÁPV Rt. (Állami Privatizációs és Vagyonkezelõ Rt.) has owned 99.5% of Malév shares. The other 0.5% are in the hands of small shareholders. ÁPV Rt has repeatedly tried to privatise Malév - finally selling it to AirBridge Zrt, one of whose stockholders is Boris Abramovich who backs KrasAir and AiRUnion.

AirBridge acquired 99.9% of the airline in February 2007. It has 2,975 employees (at March 2007).^[1]

Despite Czech Airlines' offer to sponsor Malév as an associate member of the SkyTeam alliance, and Malév's codeshare agreements with several SkyTeam carriers, the airline chose to join Oneworld as a full member. Malév became a fully-fledged member of Oneworld on March 29, 2007.

On July 12, 2007 Lloyd Paxton was appointed CEO of Malev. Paxton replaced János Gönci, who will remain on the board of directors as an adviser. Mr Paxton was with British Airways for over 35 years and most recently was with Air Astana. He had been tasked with making Malev profitable within two years, although AirBridge's CEO, Boris Abramovich, said at a recent press conference that he wanted Malev to enter profit within the next year. Mr Paxton was the first Malev CEO to come from the airline industry.

On September 14, 2007 Lloyd Paxton resigned as CEO of Malév. The new CEO is Péter Leonov.^[2]

Destinations

Further information: Malév Hungarian Airlines destinations

Malév Hungarian Airlines mainly flies to destinations in Europe, but also operates some flights to the Middle East. The airline also flies to several charter destinations.

On October 29, 2007, Malev announced the suspension of its trans-Atlantic routes for the winter season. Services on the Budapest-Toronto and Budapest-New York JFK routes were suspended in mid-November. Passenger loads on these routes are considerably lower in winter, making them uneconomical to operate. Malév wet-leased its Boeing 767-200ER to Oman Air until late March 2008; this helped Malév earn revenue.^[3]

Malév resumed daily flights to New York on May 12, 2008. Oneworld partner American Airlines and Malév will codeshare on 15 domestic flights departing from John F. Kennedy International Airport. Flights to Toronto will operate 5 times a week, with the first departure on May 26, 2008.^[4]

In May 2008 the airline terminated its only scheduled service to Africa (to the Egyptian capital, Cairo). The service was operated 4 times a week using a mixture of Boeing 737-600s and Boeing 737-700s. The sole operator on the Budapest-Cairo route is now EgyptAir. The airline will continue to serve Egypt (Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada) on a charter basis.

On July 23, 2008, Malév announced the cancellation of its long-haul flights. Malév has operated flights to Toronto and New York since the early 1990s but the recent increases in operational costs, especially fuel costs have made the flights unprofitable. The airline was losing about $50,000 per flight to Toronto Pearson International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport. Both Boeing 767s will be removed from the fleet by the start of the winter timetable. Malév has no plans to reinstate its trans-Atlantic flights but will instead focus on expanding its European network.^[5]

Fleet

The Malév fleet includes the following aircraft (as of October 2008):^[6][7][8][9]

As of September 2008, the average age of the Malév Hungarian Airlines fleet is 6.7 years ([2]).

Malév began leasing the first of three Boeing 767-300ERs in early 2007, with the intention of adding one aircraft per year, with the last joining the fleet in 2009. These aircraft will replace the two Boeing 767-200ERs in Malev's fleet.

On 30 March 2007 Malev expressed interest in buying Sukhoi Superjet 100 planes.^[11] . However, at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2008, Malév signed a contract with Canada's Bombardier for the delivery of eight Q400 turboprop aircraft with an option for a further four at a cost of €226m to replace the CRJ and Fokker 70 aircraft currently in the fleet.^[12]

Malév will be returning its leased Boeing 767-300ER (HA-LHC) to ILFC by October 2008. Airline S7 of Russia will then lease this former KLM B767 for a 6-year period. The fate of Malevs other B767, a –200ER is unknown but it will most likely be sold.^[13]

Malév Hungarian Airlines continues to reduce its fleet by leasing out all of its B737-800s during the slower winter months. Retired fleet of Malev:

• Bombardier CRJ
• Boeing 737-200
• Boeing 737-300
• Boeing 737-400
• Boeing 737-500
• Boeing 767-200ER
• Boeing 767-300ER
• Ilyushin Il-14
• Ilyushin Il-18
• Ilyushin Il-62
• Lisunov Li-2
• Polikarpov Po-2
• Tupolev Tu-134
• Tupolev Tu-154
• Yakovlev Yak-40

Codeshare agreements

Malév codeshares with the following airlines:

Incidents and accidents

• On 30 September 1975 a Malév Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft on the Budapest to Beirut route crashed near the Lebanese shoreline. For details see: Malév Flight 240.

• On 4 July 2000, Flight 262, a chartered MALÉV Tu-154 HA-LCR landed on its belly in Salonica in Greece. The crew had forgotten to lower the undercarriage and the plane skidded 400 metres (440 yards) on the runway. Thanks to the plane's robust construction and the engines' high position, the plane was able to become airborne again as the pilots applied full throttle. It circled while the crew lowered the undercarriage and landed safely. There were no injuries, but it was considered uneconomical to repair the aircraft.

References

External links

• Official website

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