New managing director for operations at BER has started. István Szabó moved from Budapest to Berlin Airport Company.
István Szabó
István Szabó took up his post as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg GmbH today, September 15. The Supervisory Board of airport operator FBB appointed István Szabó as the new COO for operations at BER Airport at its meeting on May 7, 2025. He joins the FBB management team chaired by Aletta von Massenbach.
István Szabó was previously Managing COO and Chief Passenger Officer at Budapest Liszt Ferenc Airport and has extensive experience in airport operations and a number of operational innovation projects. Under his leadership, Budapest Airport was named the best airport in Europe in the “15 to 25 million passengers per year” category twice in the ACI Airport Service Quality Ranking in 2023 and 2025.
The Hungarian began his career in 2005 as managing director of the security services provider I-SEC Hungary and speaks fluent German and English. From 2016 to 2020, he was Chief Security Officer responsible for airport security at Budapest Airport. Since 2020 in particular, as Chief Passenger Officer and Managing COO, he has been instrumental in quality initiatives at the airport, such as remote city check-in and the establishment of care zones for passengers.
István Szabó studied law and political science in Budapest, is a trained European Aviation Security Manager, completed the IATA Security Management Systems Program, and is a Certified Cyber Security Expert.
https://ber.berlin-airport.de/en.html