HiSky Europe is building on its North American expansion, with the airline planning to add Chicago to its network.
The move comes two years after the operation of the first direct flight to New York, which was restored two years ago after a 20-year break.
This comes after a 24-year break, during which there has been no direct service between Bucharest and Chicago, as the route was suspended by TAROM (the legacy carrier).
The new route will commence on 4th June 2026, with HiSky operating the route twice a week on Thursdays and Sundays, with a flight time of 10 hours 50 out, 9 hours 50 back.
HiSky flights from Timisoara, Cluj, Oradea, Chisinau and Tel Aviv have been adapted so that passengers departing from these cities benefit from a fast transfer, with baggage claim, directly to the final destination. The new route will be integrated into the company’s own connection system, so that passengers from all over the country and from the Republic of Moldova can reach Chicago with a single reservation. The same facility will also benefit passengers who have Tel Aviv Airport as their starting point, Israel.
In Quotes
Iulian Scorpan, CEO HiSky, said:
“What some called risk, we called vision and it seems that we were right. Two years ago, we trusted our passengers’ need to travel quickly, safely and comfortably across the ocean and we took on this role, as pioneers. After the results of the first year of operating the route to New York, with the same confidence, we are ready to become the company that operates both direct connections to the USA. For this second overseas route, we have also chosen a destination of great interest for both tourists and the business environment, as well as for the diaspora.
The community of Romanians and Moldovans in Chicago is one of the largest and best consolidated in the United States and, if we refer to the almost 25 years since there are no more direct flights, we realize that an entire generation did not have the chance to keep this connection with the country,”
The growth of the second force
TAROM retrenched its long-haul network in 2003, and ceded it to its partner (and future SkyTeam co-member), Air France. Since then, Romania has had very few long-haul connections to the Americas, whilst connections to the Middle East have been fuelled by flyDubai and Qatar Airways (with Etihad Airways planning a route in 2026).
HiSky Europe operates a single Airbus A330-200, along with two Airbus A321LRs and four Airbus A320ceos.
We all know that the potential of the A321LRs – which should open up the Middle East and Africa to the airline (with the USA out of reach), so this route will feature an Airbus A330-200. This is part of the development of its long-haul network, but also the positioning as the main operator in Eastern Europe in the direct flight segment to North America.
With HiSky Europe now planning to utilise its Airbus A330-200 all week (as opposed to the current five times a week), I have a feeling they’re going to need to bring some extra capacity to help sooner rather than later..
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