In 2024, Romanian low cost airline HiSky began flying to the United States. Surprisingly, the route has operated year-round since then. Not only that, but we’re now seeing the airline expand, and announce plans to fly to a second airport in the United States… that’s kind of cool!
In this post:
HiSky adding flights to second United States airport
Since June 2024, HiSky has been operating a flight between Bucharest (OTP) and New York (JFK). The flight has typically operated with the following schedule:
H4101 Bucharest to New York departing 9:30AM arriving 12:20PM
H4102 New York to Bucharest departing 1:50PM arriving 5:40AM (+1 day)
The 4,755-mile flight is blocked at 9hr50min westbound and 8hr50min eastbound. It has operated with varying frequencies, typically anywhere from 2-4x weekly (though some weeks the airline doesn’t feel like operating, it seems).
There’s now an interesting update. The New York flight only shows as operating through next spring, though as of June 2026, the airline will launch a flight between Bucharest and Chicago (ORD). The flight will operate with the following schedule:
H4103 Bucharest to Chicago departing 9:00AM arriving 11:50AM
H4104 Chicago to Bucharest departing 1:20PM arriving 7:10AM (+1 day)
The 5,216-mile flight is blocked at 10hr50min westbound and 9hr50min eastbound. It’s expected to operate 2x weekly.
It remains to be seen if the airline is replacing its New York service with Chicago service, or if the New York service just isn’t bookable yet for next summer. Either is possible, and with only two weekly frequencies to Chicago, there’s nothing stopping the airline from serving both destinations.
Flights are on sale on HiSky’s website, and the airline has a variety of fares, and even offers business class. For the Chicago route, economy fares start at €349.99 one-way in economy, or €1,199.99 one-way in business class.
HiSky has a single Airbus A330-200 that it uses for long haul flights, which is being leased from Air Lease Corporation. The plane features a total of 274 seats, including 24 business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, plus 250 economy seats in a 2-4-2 configuration.
HiSky’s Airbus A330-200 has the registration code YR-KID, and it’s an aircraft that first entered service in 2010, and until recently flew for China’s Sichuan Airlines.
I’ve reviewed Sichuan Airlines’ A330 business class, and the airline has kept the same seats that were available on those planes, so those are angled business class seats. However, the airline has removed some business class seats to add more economy seats, to better reflect the demand profile (so the rear mini business class cabin has been eliminated).
My take on HiSky’s new transatlantic flights
Most Americans have probably never heard of HiSky Airlines. For those not familiar, it’s a fairly new airline that was founded in 2019, but it has only really ramped up operations in the past few years, given the pandemic. The airline currently has a fleet of seven aircraft, including four Airbus A320s, two Airbus A321LRs, and one Airbus A330.
While I haven’t flown with HiSky, the things that I have heard about the airline have been generally positive, and it seems to be pretty well regarded, and to offer good value and a solid experience.
As far as bold new airline routes go, I have to say that HiSky’s new service doesn’t seem like a terrible idea, with one major caveat:
- It’s easy enough to make money flying across the Atlantic in summer, given the amount of demand
- While US airlines have expanded a ton with summer seasonal flying to Europe, no US carriers have planned service to Romania, so HiSky is the only airline operating flights between Romania and the United States
- The catch is that HiSky is primarily selling point-to-point tickets; the airline doesn’t have a robust connecting network in Europe, and no partner in the United States
- HiSky definitely has a cost advantage in terms of flying an older A330 that’s probably not too expensive to lease, and I imagine the carrier has much better labor costs than US airlines (I doubt HiSky captains are making $400K+ per year)
- The airline seems to have found some amount of success in the New York market, given that the route has now survived a winter, so that’s quite interesting
I’m curious to see how this evolves, as it’s always fun to see new airlines trying long haul routes. It’s very cool that this service seems to be working in some form, given that it has stuck around for over a year, and a second route is even being added.
Bottom line
In 2024, HiSky launched nonstop flights from Romania to the United States. Specifically, the airline has been flying from Bucharest to New York with a newly acquired Airbus A330 that used to fly for Sichuan Airlines. That route has been operating continuously since then, and now HiSky plans to add a route to Chicago as of 2026.
What do you make of HiSky’s service to the United States?
Well, here is a new airline and route for you to review, Lucky.
As a Romanian, I see their only real merit as being the country’s first and only transatlantic operator (after so many years without a direct flight across the Atlantic). I don’t know their exact load factors, but from a business perspective it seemed like the right moment to launch the route, given that Romania was expected to join the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. That didn’t happen, but there is probably still enough demand simply because...
As a Romanian, I see their only real merit as being the country’s first and only transatlantic operator (after so many years without a direct flight across the Atlantic). I don’t know their exact load factors, but from a business perspective it seemed like the right moment to launch the route, given that Romania was expected to join the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. That didn’t happen, but there is probably still enough demand simply because of the appeal of a direct service.
Historically, most Romanians looking for reasonable fares would first get themselves to Budapest, Hungary (sometimes even by car), and then connect through major European hubs. The pattern was: get youself to BUD airport → connect via a hub → take the long-haul flight. From what I understand, in recebt years there was also competitive fares out of Romanian airports through the Lufthansa Group airlines, but the best deals were still comparable to the current pricing of HiSky.
They’re trying to fill that gap with direct flights. The question is whether this demand will remain strong in the long run, especially if Romania doesn’t eventually join the Visa Waiver Program, which would have made the route far more sustainable.
Flying Hi Sky to Bucharest in about a month.
While the product may not be all that exciting the fares are quite nice.
Also, I believe it is the earliest overnight transatlantic flight from New York. I personally kind of like the timing.
1:50pm departure - wow, that’s pretty much a day flight!
But I think the 12:55pm flight to Tashkent on Uzbekistan Airways is an earlier transatlantic overnight flight :)