Our esteemed readers had the occasion to read my friend, Steve’s account of SkyCourt, Budapest Ferihegy Airport’s new pride. Now I would also like to add a few words about this wonder, as seen from the control tower.
Of course I need to go back a bit further in time since this story started much earlier than just yesterday. We need to go back all the way to the 80’s when Terminal 2 was completed. The modern building was the subject of appreciative comments from everyone; even Western airlines gave voice to their satisfaction that was especially significant since they had seen many modern terminals before. These remarks did give rise to some confusion when our less than perfect command of the English language made it difficult to understand what the pilots wanted, using words not contained in the ICAO phraseology books. On several occasions eight of us were bending over the speaker trying to figure out what the pilot was saying until we finally realized that there was nothing wrong with the plane, he was just saying nice things about the new terminal. Such events were anything if not powerful incentives for us to improve our language skills…
So, everyone liked the new Terminal 2 and we slid smoothly into the period known colloquially as the “change of gangsters at the top”… more commonly referred to as the change of political system. Governments swinging from right to left and then right again came and went, only we remained constant at the Air Traffic and Airport Administration (LRI)… As if nothing was going on in the world, the political change passed by, leaving Ferihegy unaffected for a while. We heard of plans to enlarge Terminal 2 but that was all. Then all of a sudden this enlargement became extremely urgent and Terminal 2B was completed in the midst of extensive scandals.
In my view the work on Terminal 2B was nothing more than part of a political campaign and it contributed mightily to the fall of the government back then as the Terminal had a lot of shortcomings in the early days.
For instance, aircraft could only approach the air-bridges under the guidance of a human marshaller, the automatic docking guidance system did not work. I guess there must have been many other similar screw-ups but what was most conspicuous looking from the tower was just how different Terminal 2B was from Terminal 2A, the building everyone was so impressed by.
Nobody called 2B nice and rightly so. There is nothing nice about it. No form, no unique architecture, nothing that would make us proud of it. Nevertheless it fulfilled its role in handling the increasing passenger traffic and in time even this step-child became part of Ferihegy. What is more, rumors circulated about a Terminal 3 and even a new cargo base was mentioned occasionally. Looking out from the tower towards the city, I could picture the new Terminal 3 on he right hand side of Runway 31L. My mind’s eye was placing the new cargo base at the end of Runway 31R and I contemplated how easy it would be to taxi the big cargo boys to the new base.
Then I had to wake up.
9/11 came and the different audits… Nothing came of the nice plans, LRI was disbanded and Budapest Airport was taken over by the English. Our hopes for new developments were quashed in short order when we saw that the highest priority for the new investors was to cut down all the trees inside the airport perimeter fence. There were too many birds in the air, they said… Well, most of those birds were rooks which came to visit not from the nearby trees but trees further afield and in any case they have been around for ages and they know the airport operating rules better than most airport employees.
The tree hating English departed a half year later, passing the airport to the Spanish whom we did not come to know at all as they kicked the football of operating the airport to the Germans. Of them at least we heard a few good opinions, that they knew what they were about, operating several other airports around the world. Our hopes rose again, may be developments would restart after all.
When the audits came, they uncovered shortcomings in almost every aspect of the airport. The most serious problems were in the area of security and these had to be urgently eliminated. The result was a green fence around the airport that had cost several billions and the establishment of check points where faceless agents who know nothing about aviation serve up the indignity of looking at each of us as potential Bin Ladens… But I diverge, I have complained enough about this in the past.
About four years ago new investors came with a bright new idea. Hurrah, finally somebody wants to invest, start developments at Ferihegy Airport. When we saw the plans, we just waved a dismissing hand. For they were not planning to do something to increase capacity, no, the bright idea was the SkyCourt opened not so long ago. Years ago there were rumors of new stands being built for Terminal 2. Two long corridors would grow from the corners of Terminal 2 A and B and the new air-bridges would join to these, bringing new stands. Nothing came of these while SkyCourt got built, apparently it was a very high priority item for the investors.
Of course… after all, what is more important at an airport than space for ever more shops where passengers can be seduced by a lot of junk at exorbitant prices, stuff they buy only to realize that they do not need them at all.
New concrete for a de-icing stand or for changing the departure sequence? New stands? No sir, those are unnecessary, they do not bring additional revenue.
So we now have a terminal with three totally different buildings, a bit of new concrete with stands that require that 737s be towed in lest they blow away vehicles on the service road behind the stands…
In the circumstances I find it rather difficult to join the general merriment around the new SkyCourt. In a little while I will have occasion to enjoy this new wonder as a passenger… I will try to put on a brave face.
