Industry newsletter AnnaAero commented that the collapse of Malév is certainly not good news to passengers or Budapest Airport in the short term, but “experience shows that within a year, the vast majority of the capacity and services currently provided by Malév will be taken up by either existing carriers, or new carriers willing to try their luck on routes with proven demand”. Schedule quality, aircraft type, fares and service levels will all play their part in determining the success, or otherwise, of these potential operations.

In reality, however, it seems more likely that following in the footsteps of the national carriers of Belgium, Greece, Italy and Switzerland a way will be found to create a new Hungarian national carrier out of the ashes of the old one, possibly with a much smaller fleet and network, but also without all the financial ‘baggage’ that finally brought down one of Europe’s oldest airlines, AnnaAero wrote.