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Malév Hungarian Airlines, an acronym of the Hungarian Magyar Légiközkeledísi Vállalat, is the national
airline of Hungary. The
accent indicates that the E is long, so the name is pronounced (approximately) Mol-ayv. Malév's IATA airline code is MA.
History
Malév's origins are somewhat convoluted. Companies like Aero Rt. (founded 1910), Magyar Ćeroforgalmi Rt.
(MAEFORT) and Magyar Légiforgalmi Rt. (Malert) are clearly spiritual forebears, but the devastation of World War II temporarily ended all Hungarian civil aviation and these companies
along with it. Thus, the official founding date is March 29, 1946, when the Hungarian-Soviet Civil Air Transport Joint Stock Company (Magyar-Szovjet
Légiforgalmi Rt. aka Maszovlet) was formed. The initial fleet consisted of 21-person Li-2 passenger aircraft (the Soviet-licensed DC-3) and 3-person Po-2 "taxis", used for precision air mail: sacks of mail were dropped
from the aircraft when flying over the destination! In 1950, Malév's base of operations
moved from Budaörs to the newly opened airport at Ferihegy, where it has remained ever since.
On November 25, 1956, Hungary purchased all the Soviet shares of Maszovlet and Malév was born. Operations gradually
expanded, with flights extending to nearby countries and, following the 1968 purchase of
jet-propelled Tupolev Tu-134s from the Soviet Union, into all of Europe and the Middle East as well. After the revolution of 1989 and the advent of democracy, Malév started to ditch all its Soviet-era planes and it now runs
a fleet of 18 Boeings, mostly refurbished 737s but with two 767-200ER's for long-haul flights, and a few Fokker 70s
for short hops.
Present
As of December 2001, Malév flies to 43 cities in 35 countries, with 50 to 60 flights daily.
Malév has not joined any of the large airline alliances, but has code
sharing agreements with KLM, Northwest Airlines, Finnair and others in the oneworld camp. Malév also has its own frequent-flyer program entitled Duna Club,
"Duna" being the Hungarian name for the Danube river.
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