Hungarians to have easier access to New York, Beijing – UPDATED

HiSky, a Romanian airline, will offer its passengers to travel from Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca) to New York via Bucharest. Unfortunately, Hungary does not have a direct air connection to Transatlantic destinations due to political reasons, but its flight network to the East is extending. Now, a Beijing flight will commute more frequently to Budapest.

According to Budflyer, a Hungarian air travel news Facebook page, HiSky, a Romanian airline, will launch a non-stop flight to New York from Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca) and Kisinyov (Chișinău, Romania’s Moldova region). The new flight will carry passengers from this June, and people will have to change flights in Bucharest.

You can already book your flight in HiSky’s system. Based on the plans, the average transfer time will be 1 hour and 10 minutes to New York and 1 hour and 35 minutes from the Big Apple.

Kolozsvár is Romania’s second biggest city with almost 300 thousand citizens, of which more than 10%, 33 thousand are Hungarians.

More flights to Beijing

Unfortunately, Hungary does not have a direct air connection to any US or Canadian cities. The last time it had was before the coronavirus pandemic. Experts suggest that is because of the tense relationship between the Orbán and the Biden cabinets. For example, the USA unilaterally terminated a taxation agreement and introduced restrictions concerning Hungarian passport holders.

Furthermore, the Biden administration and the US ambassador in Budapest regularly criticise Orbán. They believe the Orbán cabinet undermines NATO, and the EU struggles to support Ukraine in their fight against Russia. Meanwhile, Orbán regularly highlights that Ukraine has no chance of victory and Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries, so nobody should invest money or weapons in that war.

Despite having no direct connections to the Transatlantic West, Hungary’s connections to the East expand unstoppably. Now, Air China announced they would increase the number of flights between Budapest and Beijing from two to three a week. The new timetable will be in effect from 4 April, airportal.hu wrote.

Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircrafts will fly between Budapest and the Chinese capital on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.

The planes will take off in Beijing at 2:50 AM local time and arrive in Budapest at 7.10 AM GMT. You can travel back to China at 12:20 PM and land in Beijing at 4:15 AM local time.

UPDATE – MTI: Eight direct flights between Beijing and Budapest

Air China launched its direct Budapest-Beijing flight in 2015 which had to be terminated due to Covid. The airline resumed its service in the summer of 2022 but suspended it again for a couple of months in March 2023, BA said in a statement. Direct flights twice a week were launched in June last year.

Two Chinese airlines, Air China and China Eastern Airlines, operate currently eight direct flights between Beijing and Budapest. Beside Beijing, the three other cities of Shanghai, Chongqing and Ningbo can be directly reached from Budapest, said BA, MTI wrote.

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