Online travel/tech company kiwi.com has partnered with Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport (BUD) to help passengers navigate the airport with a new service called “bud:connects.” The new self-connecting transfer service will help passengers minimize airport connecting time by providing assistance directly at the airport.

Kiwi.com will have a self-transfer desk in each of Budapest Airport's two terminals to help passengers transfer effortlessly from one airline to another.

Bud:connects will have a transfer desk in each terminal

Passengers who booked their tickets through kiwi.com simply have to follow the signs to the bud: connects transfer desk where specially trained agents will help them with flight transfers. If a passenger misses their connection, the agents have dedicated mobile phones that passengers can use to call kiwi.com and make new arrangements. The bud:connects desk agents can also print boarding passes and provide fast track security vouchers if your connection is less than three hours.

Kiwi.com is like Skyscanner, but better

Before we talk more about bud:connects and their Budapest Airport idea, we should first have a look at kiwi.com and who they are. Founded in Brno, in the Czech Republic in 2012, kiwi.com is a travel fare aggregator similar to Skyscanner that can be used to purchase airline tickets.

While similar to Skyscanner, kiwi.com kicks it up a notch by finding the absolute cheapest routes regardless of codeshares. In case you have not noticed, other flight search engines always try and get you to stick with one airline and their codeshare partners. Kiwi does not do this and instead finds you the best possible fares even if it means having to have to recheck your bags during a layover.

Gone are the days when you needed to visit a travel agent to book tickets as we all do it ourselves with the aid of a computer or smartphone. Rather than buying a single ticket with one airline, it is often cheaper to use two or more airlines to get you where you want to go.

This is something the operators of Budapest Airport picked up on after noticing that nearly 110,000 passengers self-connected through BUD last year. To build on this trend, the airport decided to partner with kiwi.com so that travelers who create their own itineraries, choose Budapest over say, Vienna or Bratislava for their layovers.

Budapest is one of the fastest growing airports in Europe

When talking about the new initiative, aviation news website anna.aero quotes, Budapest Airport, CCO, Kam Jandu as saying:

“Our desire is to do everything we can to ensure each and every one of our self-connect passengers has the smoothest journey through our airport.” “Partnering with kiwi.com is a key element which has seen us create an innovative service in the region. With competitive journey times, we are already seeing an improved passenger journey – results which will help secure future bookings. As this method of travel becomes more popular, we’d encourage other airports to invest in the self-transfer market,” added Jandu.

For its part in the new endeavor, kiwi.com CBDO, Zdenek Komenda said:

“We are proud to cooperate with Budapest Airport and its bud:connects transfer product. Bringing together Kiwi.com virtual interlining technology and state-of-the-art on-site transfer assistance provided by the bud:connects staff not only enhances passenger experience for our kiwi.com customers but also improves connectivity through Budapest airport overall.”

No longer the dour bastion of Malév Hungarian Airlines, Budapest Airport is now one of the fastest-growing airports in Europe and the main base for low-cost carrier Wizz Air.

By making the airport more passenger-friendly for connecting flyers, with initiatives like bud:connects, Budapest Airport could become a go-to hub for independent travelers.

What do you think about bud:connects? Please let us know in the comments.