Romania’s HiSky Europe is launching its first regular long-haul flights with a nonstop connection between its base in Bucharest and New York/JFK, the airline has announced this Friday (22). Tickets are already available in HiSky’s sales channels.
Flights, to be started on June 7, 2024, are to be operated four times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, with the airline’s Airbus A330-200. HiSky took delivery of the A330 earlier this week, and as of today it is expected that it will fly a single unit of the type, leased from ALC.
«As important as this is for HiSky, I know it is even more so for Romania and for all passengers who want to fly across the ocean, without stops and without lost time in other airports», stated HiSky’s CEO, Iulian Scorpan, in a press release. «The United States [thus] become a travel option, for the first time since air travel became accessible to all».
The new route will be the first connection between Romania and the United States since 2009, when Delta Air Lines halted its flight between New York/JFK and Bucharest, according to Cirium’s Diio Mi application. The last year a Romanian airline connected both countries was 2003, when TAROM left the same route.
Despite being the single carrier connecting both countries non-stop, HiSky is expected to face intense competition with other carriers. While other airlines have one stop, they can undercut the airline through pricing. For June 2024, for instance, LOT Polish Airlines consistently offers lower prices between Bucharest and New York/JFK (via Warsaw) than HiSky’s lowest fare.
It is not clear if the airline will start selling connections to other destinations it serves from its base in Bucharest — nor if it will partner with any airline on the other side of the Atlantic, although all major players in JFK already have their own Transatlantic partnerships.
Even so, the timing would fit some level of connections on the return flight to Romania. On the outbound leg, however, the flight would depart too early for same-day connections with HiSky’s inbound flights to Bucharest. The airline’s A330-200 is currently configured with 39 seats in Business class and 206 in Economy.
While HiSky’s largest office is in Chișinău, Moldova, the company has its own air operator certificate (AOC) in Romania, HiSky Europe, which allows it to operate in and out of the European single market. The latter has bases in Bucharest and Cluj.
Besides the new A330-200, incorporated to the Romanian AOC, the two airlines currently operates an all-Airbus fleet of one A319 registered in Moldova, four A320 and two A321LR, all of which are leased from ALC.
