Romanian Airline Revives Route to U.S. City After 24-Year Gap

Service will start in June 2026.

[ Routes ]September 18, 2025 2:55 pm ET

By Zach Vasile

HiSky will launch nonstop flights between Bucharest, Romania and Chicago, starting June 4, 2026.
Flights will operate twice weekly (Thursdays and Sundays).
This will be HiSky’s second U.S. destination, following its existing Bucharest-New York route.
The new route aims to serve the large Romanian and Moldovan diaspora in Chicago, restoring a connection absent for 24 years.

Romanian low-cost carrier HiSky announced Wednesday that it will launch nonstop service to a major U.S. city.

Starting June 4, 2026, the airline will connect the Romanian capital of Bucharest with Chicago. Flights will operate twice weekly, on Thursdays and Sundays.

Chicago will be the carrier’s second destination in the U.S. It currently serves New York-JFK from Bucharest.

No airline has flown nonstop between Bucharest and Chicago in 24 years.

HiSky said it has timed the service so that passengers from several cities in Romania and neighboring Moldova, as well as Tel Aviv, Israel, can fly first to Bucharest and then catch the connecting flight to Chicago.

In a statement, HiSky CEO Iulian Scorpan said the airline was encouraged by the success of its New York route and wanted to begin service to another U.S. city with special cultural ties to Eastern Europe.

“For this second transatlantic service, we chose a destination of great interest not only for tourists and the business community, but also for the diaspora,” Scorpan said. “The Romanian and
Moldovan community in Chicago is one of the largest and most established in the United States and, considering that nearly 25 years have passed since the last direct flights, we realize that an entire generation has lacked the chance to maintain this direct link with the homeland.”

HiSky operates a fleet of eight Airbus A320-family aircraft. It flies mainly within Europe.

Zach Vasile is a writer and editor covering news in all aspects of commercial aviation. He has reported for and contributed to the Manchester Journal Inquirer, the Hartford Business Journal, the Charlotte Observer, and the Washington Examiner, with his area of focus being the intersection of business and government policy.