The Hungarian national airline Magyar Légiforgalmi R.T. (MALERT) was until the early 1930s equipped with Junkers F.13 and many Fokker passenger planes which were becoming obsolete. The first Junkers to arrive in Budapest was a Ju.52/3m registered as HA-DUR in 1931 which served as the personal transport of Miklós Horthy, the regent of Hungary during the interwar period and most of the World War 2. This Junkers was beautifully decorated with the coat of arms overpainted over the Hungarian flag at the tail.
In order to expand and modernise its fleet, the Hungarian government donated the HA-DUR in 1936 to MALERT to be used in their network with an additional 6 ones purchased from Germany. They were put into use in the line Budapest-Vienna- Salzburg -Munich - Zurich which served jointly with Deutsche Lufthansa and ÖLAG. In 1937, thanks to big increase in numbers of MALERT, a new airport was built in Budapest, named Budaörs, which served as the company's new hub. In April 1939 two additional Ju.52/3m were ordered which were delivered in the summer but, the start of the World War 2 interrupted some aerial routes for a brief period of time. In February it was sought to open a new route to London and Paris via Venezia and Marseille and even another one to Moscow, via Sofia, in Bulgaria, however those were established because of the war.
The most important route MALERT served during this period was Berlin-Budapest-Bucharest between January and 31st March 1940. The Ju,52/3m served with MALERT until they were requisitioned by the Royal Hungarian Air Force (MKHL) to serve in the invasion of the USSR.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Junkers_Ju_52_operators
2. http://www.europeanairlines.no/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/A_Maefort_Malert_020209.pdf
3. http://airliner.narod.ru/airliners1931-ju52/ju52-1europe.htm (translated)
4. Hikoki Books - Hungarian Eagles - A Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légieró 1920-1945
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