In 1938, the idea of a new civilian and military airport for Budapest was born, to be built at the boundary of the settlements of Pestszentl?rinc, Rákoshegy and Vecsés. Civil facilities were to be built in the northwestern section and military ones in the southwestern section. A public tender was invited for the design and construction of the structures. In December 1939, the designs of the pioneering modern architect Károly Dávid Jr. (1903–1973) were chosen, with a terminal building which resembled an aircraft viewed from above. Work commenced in 1942. To approach the airport from the city, a 16-kilometre (10 mi) highway was constructed between 1940 and 1943, which, after improvements, remains in use today. The military buildings were hastily constructed from 1940 to serve war needs, with aviation starting in 1943, while civil construction halted at the beginning of 1944. Many of the airport buildings were damaged during the Soviet Budapest offensive. By the end of 1944, the city and its airport were under Soviet occupation. In 1947, it was decided that the airport would be reconstructed for civil aviation over three years, with 40 million forints allocated. The opening ceremony was held in May 1950, though not all sections were finished, and operations began by the Magyar-Szovjet Polgári Légiforgalmi Rt. (MASZOVLET, Hungarian-Soviet Civil Aviation Co. Ltd.), established in 1946. The airlines operated only a few foreign flights, including to Prague, Bucharest, Warsaw, and Sofia. Magyar Légiforgalmi Vállalat (Malév, Hungarian Airlines) was established on 25 November 1954. The first regular flight from the airport to Western Europe was a Malév flight to Vienna in summer 1956. The first Western airline flying to Budapest was KLM in 1957. The terminal building was finished in this period and the 2,500-metre (8,202 ft) runway was built. At the end of 1958 the runway was lengthened to 3,010 metres (9,875 ft) and taxiway D was finished. From 1950 to 1960, the number of landings increased from 4,786 to 17,133, with passenger traffic increasing from 49,955 to 359,338. In 1974, passenger traffic reached one million. In 1977, a new control tower was built, as well as a second runway parallel to the old one and a MALÉV maintenance facility. The new 3,707-metre (12,162 ft) runway opened in September 1983. From 1989 to 1991, Budapest Ferihegy Airport served as a major transit hub for over 160,000 Soviet Jewish emigrants en route to Israel. With direct flights from the Soviet Union to Israel still politically sensitive and unavailable until late 1991, the Jewish Agency and Malév Hungarian Airlines jointly operated a series of charter flights connecting Moscow, Budapest, and Tel Aviv. The operation made Hungary a key logistical partner in the post-Soviet aliyah and symbolized its broader turn toward pro-Western humanitarian policies. The airport became the focus of international attention and security concerns, including threats of terrorism. In December 1991, the radical German Communist Red Army Faction attempted an IED bombing against a Jewish refugee bus convoy on the road to Ferihegy. In 1993, Malév launched the airport's first Hungarian transatlantic flight, to New York-Newark via Rome. According to traffic forecasts for the new millennium, the two terminals serving 4 million passengers a year promised to be insufficient. The 30,000 m² Terminal 2B opened in 1997 with seven gates, five remote stands, and a capacity of 3.5 million passengers a year. All foreign airlines moved to the new terminal. On 8 December 2005, a 75% stake in Ferihegy Airport was bought by BAA plc for 464.5 billion HUF (approx. US$2.1 billion), including the right of operation for 75 years. On 20 October 2006, BAA announced intentions to sell its stake in Budapest Airport to a consortium led by the German airport group, Hochtief AirPort GmbH, subject to the consent of the Hungarian State.