Malév Hungarian Airlines

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</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Hubs</th><td>Budapest Ferihegy International Airport</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Frequent flyer program</th><td>Duna Club</td></tr><tr><th colspan="2">Alliance</th><td>Oneworld</td></tr>

Malév Hungarian Airlines
IATA MA	ICAO MAH	Callsign Malev
Founded		1946 (as Hungarian-Soviet Civil Air Transport Joint Stock Company)
Fleet size		29
Destinations		58
Headquarters		Budapest, Hungary
Key people		János Gönci (CEO)
Website: http://www.malev.hu

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 in 2007.

1 History
2 Present
3 Destinations
4 Fleet
- 4.1 Current Fleet
- 4.2 Retired Fleet
5 Codeshares
6 Incidents and Accidents
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] 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.

Another view of Malév Boeing 737-700 (HA-LOB)

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 The last Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-154 was withdrawn from the fleet in 2001.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.

[edit] 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 [1]).

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. In summer from Lake Balaton (Sármellék International Airport) there are flights to Berlin, Stuttgart 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 currently undergoing changes to its system to meet the standards of Oneworld. It is expected to become a fully pledged Oneworld member by 2007.

Malev will be leasing 3 Boeing 767-300ER commencing in early 2007, one aircraft will be added per year, with the last joining the fleet in 2009. These aircraft will eventually replace the existing 2 Boeing 767-200ER in Malev's fleet. Malev also plans to sell its 4 Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft.

[edit] Destinations

Further information: Malév Hungarian Airlines destinations

Malév Hungarian Airlines flies primarily to destinations in Europe, but also services Asia, Africa and North America.

[edit] Fleet

[edit] Current Fleet

The Malév fleet includes the following aircraft as of August 2006:<ref>Flight International, 3-9 October 2006</ref>

**Malév Hungarian Airlines Fleet**
Type	Total	Passengers
Boeing 737-600	6	102 (19/83)
Boeing 737-700	7	119 (24/95)
Boeing 737-800	5	164 (19/145) 180
Boeing 767-200ER	2	185 (24/161)
Canadair CRJ-200ER	4	50
Fokker 70	5	72 (12/60)

The MALEV average fleet age is 4.6 years, as of June 2006.

[edit] Retired Fleet

[edit] Codeshares

The routes operated by Malév to/from Budapest for partner airlines:

Operated for	Destinations to/from Budapest
Image:Flag of Russia.svg Aeroflot	Moscow-Sheremetyevo
Image:Flag of Ukraine.svg Aerosvit	Kiev-Boryspil, Odessa
Image:Flag of France.svg Air France	Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Lyon
Image:Flag of Italy.svg Alitalia	Rome-Fiumicino, Bologna, Venice
Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg British Airways	London-Gatwick, Larnaca, Sarajevo, Skopje, Timişoara, Tirana, Târgu Mureş, Varna
Image:Flag of Bulgaria.svg Bulgaria Air	Sofia, Varna
Carpatair	Cluj-Napoca, Târgu Mureş, Timişoara
Image:Flag of the Czech Republic.svg CSA	Prague, Pristina, Timişoara, Tirana, Varna
Image:Flag of Finland.svg Finnair	Helsinki
Image:Flag of Spain.svg Iberia	Madrid, Malaga, Frankfurt, Munich, Rome-Fiumicino, Zurich
Image:Flag of Japan.svg Japan Airlines	Amsterdam, Frankfurt
Image:Flag of the Netherlands.svg KLM	Amsterdam
Image:Flag of Belgium (civil).svg SN Brussels Airlines	Brussels
Image:Flag of Montenegro.svg Montenegro Airlines	Podgorica
Image:Flag of the United States.svg Northwest Airlines	Amsterdam
Tarom	Bucharest-Henri Coandă

[edit] 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.