Sármellék International Airport
| Sármellék International Airport Sármellék Nemzetközi Repülőtér |
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| IATA: SOB – ICAO: LHSM | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Location | Sármellék | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 124 m / 408 ft | ||
| Coordinates | 46°41′11″N 017°09′33″E / 46.68639°N 17.15917°ECoordinates: 46°41′11″N 017°09′33″E / 46.68639°N 17.15917°E | ||
| Website | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 16/34 | 2,500 | 8,202 | Concrete |
| Helipads | |||
| Number | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| H1 | 3 × 45 | 10 × 150 | Concrete |
| Source: Hungarian AIP at EUROCONTROL[1] | |||
Sármellék International Airport (Hungarian: Sármellék Nemzetközi Repülőtér) (IATA: SOB, ICAO: LHSM), also known as FlyBalaton Airport, is an international airport in Hungary located west of Lake Balaton 1 km (0.62 mi) south-southwest[1] of the village of Sármellék, Zala County and Keszthely. Its importance is due to the proximity of Lake Balaton, Hungary's most important holiday resort and the thermal spas of Hévíz and Zalakaros.
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[edit] About the airport
A military airport was already located here in the 1940s. It was paved in the 1950s and functioned as a Hungarian military airport until 1960, and as a Soviet military airport between 1960 and the Autumn of 1990. The current runways were constructed in 1982.
The airport is owned by the local governments of Sármellék and Zalavár since August 2002, operated by an Irish-Hungarian investment group, Cape Clear Aviation Ltd., since 2004.
Due to financial problems, the airport closed over the winter period 2008–09, but closed indefinitely on 10 October 2009. A new buyer was then sought for the facility.[2] It reopened, however, in April 2010.
[edit] Flights
Sármellék International Airport had operated as a public airport since 1991 and became the second international airport of the country on 15 May 2002 (after Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport). It frequently operated charter flights to Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Leipzig and Düsseldorf in Germany, Billund and Copenhagen in Denmark, Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Moscow in Russia. In December 2005 Ryanair announced flights from London Stansted 3x weekly, the route has since been cut along with flights announced in October 2006 from Frankfurt Hahn.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- FlyBalaton Airport - Official site
- FlyBalaton Airport data - from the HungaryAirport site
