Budapest Airport is delighted to welcome the world's newest and largest commercial aircraft, thanks to launch customer Cargolux's first Boeing 747-8 freighter flight to the airport. This flight was also part of the first commercial roundtrip ever with a Boeing 747-8 aircraft, which makes it an exciting double premier.
The arrival of the first B747-8F on Monday, October 17th, 2011 marks a new milestone and the beginning of a new era in Cargolux's highly successful operations at Budapest Airport (BUD). Cargolux began operating regular B747-400F freighter services into BUD in 2002, initially with three weekly flights, and which have since grown to five per week.
Now Budapest Airport can become one of just a handful of airports around the world able to welcome the first new-generation cargo aircraft, the B747-8F, on a scheduled basis, thanks to its continuing relationship with Cargolux. The flight this Monday was also a premier with a Boeing 747-8F aircraft: it was the first commercial roundtrip (LUX-HKG-BUD-LUX), with this new Boeing 747-8F type ever.
Budapest Airport was recently approved as an operating base for Boeing's newest and largest aircraft, the 747-8F, making the airport capable of handling any aircraft currently operating around the world. The approval follows several months of preparations and modifications to the airport apron, which has been redesigned to accommodate the additional 5.6-metre length of the 747-8F, compared with its predecessor, the 747-400F.