Name
Originally called Budapest Ferihegy International Airport (Budapest Ferihegy Nemzetközi Repülőtér), on 25 March 2011 it was officially renamed Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, in honour of Franz Liszt (Modern Hungarian: Liszt Ferenc, a Hungarian pianist and music composer. The change caused some controversy because the Committee of Geographical Names, which is the sole competent body in (re)naming geographical objects, suggested another version (Liszt Ferenc Nemzetközi Repülőtér, Budapest–Ferihegy) in order to keep the historical name. In retaliation, the chairman and several members of the committee were removed, two of them were fired of their workplace. Popularly, the airport is still called Ferihegy as before.
Ferihegy is the name of the neighbourhood around the airport. The name is derived from that of Ferenc Xavér Mayerffy (1776–1845), the former owner of an estate who established vineyards and contributed to the development of viticulture in Pest-Buda. "Feri" is a diminutive form of Ferenc while "hegy" means hill. In fact the area is almost totally flat but originally there was a 147 m high sandy hillock which was levelled in the 1940s during the constructions works of the airport.
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