People First

Most people think that in Hungary there is only an airport in Budapest, but this is not the case at all. There are five smaller cities you can fly to or from, one of which is Pécs. Pécs-Pogány Airport serves the needs of the whole region.

Why is there an airport in Pécs?
It is not a new thing, Pécs was already on the aeronautical map of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in 1918, the first airport in Pécs was built in the area of the present-day Uránváros district. The start of air traffic in Pécs was the result of an exemplary initiative by the people of Pécs: on 20 May 1929, a very well-attended flying day was held in Pécs, after which the people of Pécs donated enough money to buy 3 civil aircraft.
From 1931, the Budapest-Kaposvár-Pécs flight was already in operation. In the spring of 1956, the airport was moved from Uránváros to its present location. In 1969, however, scheduled domestic civil air traffic stopped completely in Hungary, and after that Pécs airport served only sports purposes.
In 2003 the change started, when the 1500 m long runway was built and holiday flights to Vienna, Corfu and Bulgaria started, but unfortunately only for a while. In February 2024, it was announced that the Maltese Universal Air would launch long-term flights from Pécs to Munich, Malta and Corfu from the end of March. Here we are.

Accessibility:
We were able to access the Pécs-Pogány Airport before its reopening, during the renovation works at the beginning of March 2024. The first Universal Air flight took off on 26 March 2024. The complete renovation of the building was almost completed, with accessibility improvements also being taken into account, although not yet fully. The airport operator is waiting for your comments and ideas, and we are also in discussions with the management, which is also very open to improvements in this direction. So it' s worth watching the updates here!
The entrance to the building is barrier-free, as is the ground floor service area. The flooring is smooth artificial stone with accentuated different colours to assist visually impaired passengers, but there are no tactile signs for blind passengers. For the time being, there is no Braille subtitles on the signs, in the lifts or in the toilets.
The accessible toilet is located on the ground floor and is fully compliant with the design. The door cannot be locked from the inside.
The information desk is located on the ground floor, part of which consists of lower tables accessible from a wheelchair. There is currently no induction loop for hearing impaired passengers. Here you will find the baggage check-in and the ckeck-in, which leads to the spacious lounge. The waiting area also has plain, contrasting-colour floor tiling, no tactile signs, and no accessible toilets.

Boarding from here is via the ground floor lounge,through a threshold-free, barrier-free door. The walkway to the concrete walkway is also rounded and recessed. The concrete walkways outside have been refurbished and are smooth.

Stairs and a lift lead up to the first floor. The lift is comfortable and wide, with enough space for up to two wheelchairs. There is no Braille on the buttons inside or outside, and there is no audible announcement to assist blind passengers. The restaurant and terrace are located upstairs, as the non-accessible toilets. Access to the restaurant is barrier-free, the restaurant was not yet equipped at the time of our visit. However, the terrace is accessed by a several centimetre high landing, which makes it impossible to get there with a wheelchair, with a stroller or a cane. A ramp solution would be necessary in the near future.

For disabled passengers, the protocol for flying with Universal Air is available at the bottom of the website in the "Customer Service" section. According to this:
"Special Assistance Services. We’re here to support passengers needing extra help, including: Wheelchair Support: Mobility should never be a barrier to travel.
Sensory Assistance: For those with hearing or visual impairments.
Invisible Disabilities: We’re trained and ready to accommodate your needs. Please let our call centre know at least 48 hours before your flight if you require special assistance. Call us on +356 212 55 212."
The boarding of wheelchair passengers has been specifically agreed between Universal Air and the management of Pécs-Pogány Airport. According to them, there are two solutions for the planes operating here: an 8-9 m ramp that can be connected to the otherwise low door of the aircraft, with an inclination of only 6-7 degrees. Alternatively, a forklift enclosed hoist, also directly connected to the door. The tendering and regulatory approval process for both options was launched on 12 April, so a solution will be found in May 2024.

The airport management is making every effort to ensure that accessibility will improve in the near future. To this end, they have asked for the help of experts from the People First Public Benefit Association. In response to this honourable request, we will continue to discuss possibilities and needs in the near future. Sensitisation training for airport staff has also been scheduled.

About flying:
From 26 March 2024, Universal Air Dash 8-400 turbo 78-seat aircraft will fly from Pécs. This is not a "low-cost airline", so snacks and refreshments will be served on board.
The routes are: from March 2024 on Tuesdays and Fridays to Malta and Munich. From 5 June onwards, there will be even more frequent flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with Corfu as an additional destination.

Website:
As this is an airport where online booking and information is key, we have analysed the website in detail with our experts.

The airport website (https://www.airportpecs.hu/) is currently not perfect from an accessibility point of view. Clickable buttons, embedded frames and links do not tell you what the button does or what action it performs. The background and foreground colours do not have the right contrast ratio, making it difficult to read or perceive the content.
According to visually impaired user testing, airportpecs.hu is currently able to read the timetable on the home page, view airport details, contact the relevant people, be interpreted by screen reader software and be accessible. Other information cannot be followed by visually impaired or blind people for the reasons described above. In the "Downloadable documents" sub-menu of the website, the so-called traffic maps are in pdf format and contain information that is not readable for the visually impaired. The website is structured with headings to make navigation easier, a welcome practice.

The online ticketing site www.flyuniversalair.com is also available in several languages on the Universal Air website. Unfortunately, the accessibility of this is not yet satisfactory, as it lacks support for screen readers. The links here also do not contain any text or information to help users understand where the link leads. Listings and numbered lists on the site are not readable for visually impaired people with screen readers. As a visually impaired person, the departure and destination can be entered on the booking page, but the departure date field and the number of passengers field cannot be handled by the screen reader. All in all, as a blind person it is not possible to buy a flight ticket independently with a screen reader.

The up-to-date Facebook page of Pécs-Pogány Airport is available here: https://www.facebook.com/pecspoganyrepter/

Getting there:
The Pécs-Pogány Airport is located 9 kilometres southeast of the city centre, next to the village of Pogány. The Municipality of Pécs offers passengers a lot of assistance in finding their way easily.

By car, you can get there in 10 minutes from the city centre via the Kertváros district on the 58 road. Free parking is available at the entrance to the airport or in the car park a few metres away, with a total of around 80 parking spaces. In this car park, which is a little further away, 4 barrier-free accessible parking spaces have been created. Access to the entrance is via a barrier-free walkway. However, the pavement is sunken and bumpy in one place, which was photographed and reported to the airport operator.

By bus, the city bus company operates free services on flight days. They pick up passengers via the Fellbach Street, Árkád shopping centre, Market Hall, Railway Station and take about 10-15 minutes to reach the airport entrance. According to the information received from the city bus company, the Pécs-Pogány airport bus service is operated by a low-floor, i.e. accessible, solo bus.
For those arriving from the Pécs area, the long-distance buses will stop directly in front of the airport.

By taxi: under the agreement with Volántaxi, passengers are transported from Pécs or the surroundings of Pécs at a fixed fare.

Car rental: the airport will offer this service in the near future.

We welcome your own experiences of accessibility at Pécs-Pogányi Airport in the comments here.