Romania’s HiSky will launch flights between Bucharest and Chicago during the 2026 summer season, restoring a transatlantic link last served by Tarom more than 20 years ago.
The airline will operate two flights per week between Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP) and Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) using Airbus A330s, departing Romania’s capital on Thursdays and Sundays. The move comes after the launch of flights to New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in June 2024.
“After the results of the first year of operations on the New York route, with the same confidence, we are ready to become the airline that operates both direct connections with the U.S.,” HiSky CEO Iulian Scorpan says. He cited strong demand from tourists, business travelers and the large Romanian and Moldovan diaspora in Chicago.
HiSky says the schedule will allow for connections from Cluj, Timișoara, Oradea, Chișinău and Tel Aviv. But it remains unclear whether the new Chicago service will complement or replace the JFK flights, as the airline has not yet opened reservations for summer 2026. However, with only two weekly rotations to ORD, there is still capacity to operate both routes.
The Chicago move comes amid a rebound in Romania–U.S. travel. Sabre Market Intelligence data shows two-way O&D traffic reached 455,000 passengers in 2024, up 8% year over year and 15% above pre-pandemic 2019 levels. Bucharest–New York was the largest city pair with 86,300 passengers, followed by Miami, Los Angeles, Washington and Chicago.
The launch of HiSky’s JFK route 15 months ago restored nonstop Romania–U.S. service for the first time since Delta Air Lines ended its Bucharest–New York JFK flights in August 2009—just over two years after launching the route. In the Bucharest–Chicago market, U.S. Transportation Department data shows that Tarom offered flights between the destinations until 2002, operating a route via Montreal. Tarom ended its last U.S. route—to New York JFK—the following year.
HiSky’s planned new U.S. link comes as Central and Eastern Europe see growing transatlantic competition. According to OAG Schedules Analyser data, there are 13 nonstop routes operating between the U.S. and the region in summer 2025, including LOT Polish Airlines’ multiple U.S. gateways and Air Serbia’s links to New York and Chicago.
Overall, Central and Eastern Europe–U.S. capacity will total nearly 1 million two-way seats in summer 2025, up from 864,000 the year prior. That figure is set to rise again in 2026 with American Airlines’ planned Philadelphia–Prague and Philadelphia–Budapest launches.
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