Introduction
Drone operations in Hungary increasingly take place in environments where defence and security considerations become decisive: critical infrastructure, energy hubs, border regions, as well as major events and protected state facilities. Due to the regional security situation, in early 2026, the press reported several tightenings affecting drone flights.
In this article, we summarise what types of restrictions you may encounter in practice today, which areas were affected by recent measures, and what a minimum checking routine can help you avoid an unlawful or risky operation.
1. Restrictions are defined by airspace and UAS geo‑zones—not by counties.
Under the logic of Hungarian and EU drone rules, restrictions are typically not defined by administrative borders (county/municipality), but by specific airspaces and UAS geographical zones (geo‑zones) with coordinates, radii, altitude limits and time windows. Therefore, a ‘drone operations ban’ referring to a city or a county means in practice that one or more designated airspaces or UAS geo‑zones exist, which must be checked on the official map‑based and information services that provide airspace‑use information.
2. Critical infrastructure: general, nationwide protective measures
According to HungaroControl’s AIS information service—which also provides information on UAS airspace restrictions—unmanned aircraft may not be operated within a 300‑metre radius around critical infrastructure if the infrastructure has been designated under Act LXXXIV of 2024 on the resilience of critical entities, or if it is considered significant for national defence and security under Act XCIII of 2021 on the coordination of defence and security activities. The information also notes that an exception may apply if the drone is operated by the organisation managing the infrastructure, or if that organisation gives explicit authorisation.
Practical recommendation: protecting critical infrastructure is not new, but in the current risk environment, authority and operator controls typically tighten. If an operation takes place near an energy, transport or other critical element, it is worth working with particularly conservative planning, prior consents, and a documented risk assessment.
3. February 2026: drone flight ban in Szabolcs‑Szatmár‑Bereg County – what can we know about it?
According to publicly available media reports, in late February 2026, an extraordinary drone‑flight restriction/ban was communicated in connection with Szabolcs‑Szatmár‑Bereg County, justified by strengthening the protection of critical energy infrastructure and by regional security risks. For an operator, however, the decisive question is not the news item itself, but whether—and in what parameters (time window, altitude, boundaries)—the restriction appears in a specific airspace or UAS geo‑zone in official systems.
The official restriction is set out in a decision issued by the Aviation Authority, under which a full drone‑flight ban was ordered in Szabolcs‑Szatmár‑Bereg County from 2026‑02‑25 to 2026‑05‑26. The restriction was also published in a NOTAM (A1161/2026).
4. March 2026: full drone‑flight bans around critical energy facilities
Public media reports in early March 2026 stated that, based on an authority decision, strict drone‑flight restrictions/bans were introduced around several areas linked to critical energy infrastructure (e.g., the areas of Paks, Százhalombatta, Gyöngyös, Szolnok, Albertirsa and Dánszentmiklós). For operational planning, this must always be translated into executable parameters based on the official publication (AIS / MyDroneSpace / NOTAM).
In such cases, it is particularly important that a news article does not become the ‘operational document’: planning must always follow the official publication (AIS / MyDroneSpace / NOTAM), because the zone boundaries, altitude limits and time windows are defined there in an enforceable form.
The imposed restrictions are shown in the MyDroneSpace application and in the relevant NOTAMs, which can be used for situational awareness.
What should an operator do in this situation?
- Before every operation, check the official information services: MyDroneSpace + HungaroControl AIS (UAS airspace restrictions and the daily Airspace Use Plan).
- Do not only check the exact spot—check the surroundings as well: near energy hubs, transport infrastructure or protected state facilities, restrictions are more likely.
- Document your planning: date/time of checks, maps used, identified restrictions, and the rationale for legality and safety.
- If an extraordinary restriction is suspected (e.g., via a media report), immediately verify it in official systems—and decide only based on that.
- Near critical infrastructure, fly only if all permissions and consents are complete and traceable in writing.
The goal is not to ‘fly everywhere’, but to execute operations in a predictable, reliable way aligned with the security environment.