Malév Hungarian Airlines
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Malév Hungarian Airlines, a translation of the Hungarian Magyar Légiközlekedési Vállalat, is the national airline of Hungary. The accent indicates that the E is long, so the name is pronounced Mah-layv.
Malév will join the oneworld alliance at the turn of 2006 and 2007.
History
Malév's origins are somewhat convoluted. 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 ended all Hungarian civil aviation and these companies along with it. Thus, the official founding date is March 29, 1946, when the Hungarian-Soviet Civil Air Transport Joint Stock Company (Magyar-Szovjet Légiforgalmi Rt. aka Maszovlet) was formed. The initial fleet consisted of 21-person Li-2 passenger aircraft (the Soviet-licensed DC-3) and 3-person Po-2 "taxis", used for precision air mail: sacks of mail were dropped from the aircraft when flying over the destination. In 1950, Malév's base of operations moved from Budaörs to the newly opened airport at Ferihegy, where it has remained ever since.
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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, into all of Europe and the Middle East as well. Even before the revolution of 1989 and the arrival of democracy, Malév started to phase 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 The last Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-154 was withdrawn from the fleet in 2001. In 2003, Malév began to replace its Boeing 737 Classic aircraft with the new 737 Next-Generation planes. It now runs a fleet of 17 Boeings 737s but with two 767-200ER's for long-haul flights, and a few Fokker 70s and Canadair CRJ-200's for short hops.
Present
Since 1999, the Hungarian state property agency ÁPV Rt. (Állami Privatizációs és Vagyonkezelõ Rt.) has owned 99.5% of the Malév shares, with the other 0.5% in the hands of small shareholders. ÁPV Rt has repeatedly tried to privatize Malév - so far to no avail. (The last auction results, the winning bid being that placed by Russia's KrasAir, were annulled by the Hungarian authorities [link]).As of December 2001, Malév flies to 59 cities in 35 countries, with 50 to 60 flights daily. All Malév flights leave Budapest Ferihegy airport from Terminal 2A. Malév also operates flight from Athens to Dublin and Helsinki. Now the Malév has a domestic route to Debrecen (Code-Share with the OLT Airlines). In summer from Lake Balaton there is flight to Berlin, Suttgart and Copenhagen.
Despite Czech Airlines' offer to sponsor Malév as an associate member of the SkyTeam Alliance, and Malév's codesharing agreements with a number of SkyTeam carriers, the airline chose to join oneworld as a full member. Malév is not undergoing changes to its system to met the standards of oneworld. It is expected to become a fully pledged oneworld member by 2007.
Incidents and accidents
- On 30 September 1975 a Malév Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft which was flying on the Budapest to Beirut route was shot down near the Lebanese shoreline. For full details see: Malév Flight 240.
Destinations
- Further information: Malév Hungarian Airlines destinations
Fleet
Current Fleet
The Malév fleet consists of the following aircraft (at July 2006):
| 6 | Boeing 737-600 NG | |
| 7 | Boeing 737-700 NG | |
| 5 | Boeing 737-800 NG | |
| 2 | Boeing 767-200 ER | |
| 4 | Canadair CRJ-200 | |
| 5 | Fokker 70 |
MALEV average fleet age is 4. 59 years old in June 2006.
Former Aircraft
- Boeing 767-300
- Boeing 737-200
- Boeing 737-300
- Boeing 737-400
- Boeing 737-500
- Ilyushin Il-14
- Ilyushin Il-18
- Ilyushin Il-62
- Lisunov Li-2
- Polikarpov Po-2
- Tupolev Tu-134
- Tupolev Tu-154
- Yakovlev Yak-40
See also
- Duna Club
External links
Members of the oneworld Alliance
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Aer Lingus • American Airlines • British Airways Cathay Pacific • Finnair • Iberia Airlines • Lan • Qantas Future members: Malév • Royal Jordanian • Japan Airlines Former members: Canadian Airlines |
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