Malev was closed down this morning because it cannot pay any of its bills. Apparently all of the aircraft except one are in Hungary -- the last one is trapped in Tel Aviv. Passenger traffic in this part of Eastern Europe might be disrupted somewhat until further notice -- however, since it is low season, it is not as serious as if this had happened in the middle of the summer.

A pity, I've flown with them a fair number of times. I flew on a smoking one once, everyone on the left hand side could smoke and those on the right could not....

Fair chance the stranded passengers in Tel Aviv aren't in a rush to get back to Hungary.

ONe of the worst flights of my life was on Malev from Athens to Budapest. It was a very old plane, and the vents seemed to blow a chemical-type odor through the plane for a whole flight. We couldn't wait to get off!

Sad to hear. I flew with them quite a few times between 2005 and 2008 and always had great flights - transatlantic, within Europe and once to Egypt. Their Business Class was pretty good and the cabin staff always friendly in my experience.
Wonder who will bail them out...

keroac wrote: " Apparently all of the aircraft except one are in Hungary -- the last one is trapped in Tel Aviv."

Not quite true; we captured one in Dublin as well.

Pity. We flew last summer with them to Split, and their schedule from Madrid was pretty good and so were the flights. On time, clean and there was even free food.

bye, Cova

We had a great flight some years ago from Atlanta to Budapest. It was "great" because it was only half full and we each had three full seats to sleep on.

What a shame that the airline is shut downm.

Byrd

Have had nothing but good experiences on Malev...for getting around that part of Europe, they had very convenient schedules. Question comes to mind: How does a creditor use a repo company to snatch the planes off the tarmac? Never mind!
stu

Thought #2..looks like El Al just added a new plane to its fleet...only has to add one letter //MALEV...EL AL. Probably hired the pilots and hostesses, also.