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Feb 13, 2012

Airlines, airports, trains and buses

Barely has a week passed since the Hungarian national airline Malév went bankrupt. This inspired me to do some thinking on one of my favourite issues transportation. It is a field of industry that is very interesting to me because it has to face extreme challenges in the future and also because it is one of tje government owned industries in Hungary that has been needing financial support for many years now working with old inefficient structures.
It is my solid belief that good organisation is key to all fields of economic activities. This is especially true with something as complex as transportation. In my view the different means of transportation can be seen as different levels of a complex system.
Air transportation is used for international movement in Hungary due to the country's size. This means that the country has one principal airport in Budapest. This is not very healthy situation in terms of regional development, but the example of Malév shows that this is probably realistic. Despite this as a believer in the development of new Central European business hubs I think Hungary and more expressively the bigger countryside cities of Hungary should collaborate with working regional airports of the neighbouring countries.
In an ideal setting the railways would also be focused on these cities with real intercity trains only stopping in cities of economic significance, while slower passenger trains could collect all passengers from other station transportimg them to the hubs. Finally the bus transport system should do the same on an even lower level reaching all villages and settlements. Thus a complex net of transportation could be created between the regional economic hubs.

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