Brief History of the airport

Siófok –Kiliti Airport is situated not more than 5 kilometres from Lake Balaton, the south of Siófok, alongside Route 65 with a distance of 50-100 metres from the Route and has a 1250 metres long grass runway.
However this has not been always like this!

On a summer morning in 1932 the noise of an airplane disturbed the quiet solitude of Balatonkiliti village.
A WM 10 type airplane with HA-AKC registration landed on the pasture behind the Catholic Church.

Two air officers stepped out of the plane and they made a request directly to the principal notary of Balatonkiliti to establish an airport in Balatonkiliti.

Lieutenant-colonel Dezső Máry became the commander of the airport that was inaugurated in 1933. From this year on, the International Air Picnic and Balaton Sport Week, linked with Air Festivals were held annually here.

On any Air Festival Day, 40-70 planes landed in Balatonkiliti.

Each summer 8-10 pilot students were trained here, for whom the pilot academy of Balaton meant an unforgettable experience. After the war sailplaning became the main attraction. The walls of the old hangar can be still seen beside Route 65.

From 1949 a powered aircraft pilot academy operated here until 1955 when two pilot students defected towards Austria. The airport was closed then thus its fate determined. Later the actual ‘large’ airport (with 2 kilometres long runway that time) started to operate serving military purposes.
Before the military began to use the airport, a soil reconstruction had been carried out on a 2500 × 150 metres area in order to make it suitable for the landing and take-off of military aircrafts, primarily MÍG – 21 jet fighters.

Besides the military use, the civil usage gradually started up, too.
MALÉV’s LI-2 planes landed here in the summer months and its air sightseeing tours took off from here to above Lake Balaton.

The Air Ambulance Unit of the National Ambulance Services started here its storm observatory flights over Lake Balaton, which task was taken over by the Air Police Forces of the Interior Ministry in the middle of the 1960s and is still their responsibility.

After the idea appeared in 1985, the Ministry of Defence decided to renounce operating the airport in 1989.

The Air Traffic and Airport Administration, predecessor in title of Budapest Airport Rt., responding to the demand, took the opportunity and signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence to further utilize and operate the airport.

The opening in 1990 started with a handover celebration.

In the middle of the 1990s about 7-8000 aircraft used the airport annually during the only 6 months’ long periods when it was open.
The airport has developed a lot technically in the last 15 years. The target market continues to be linked to tourism; to this end the organized training and sport flying play an important role.

Sport flights are performed by Zenit Sport Flyers Club (with one glider, established in 1990).

In 1992, after almost 40 years’ break, sailplane pilot training started again in Siófok. Besides, the Club undertook the task of promoting sport flying in the Lake Balaton region and organizing courses to ensure the training of interested applicants. By now this Club represents sport flying in the Siófok-Kiliti airport and actively participates in the life of the airport by organizing programs, international flying camps and by performing maintenance works. In the last ten years, amongst many others, a Gliding Championship, a Primagas Hot Air Balloon Competition and a European Stunt-Flying Championship were held here.