LOT’s first direct flight from Budapest arrived in Chicago on 5 May almost at precisely the same time as the city’s traditional Polish constitution day parade, meaning the celebration of the Polish airline’s new direct air route between Budapest and Chicago began three hours before the annual Polish national festivities.
A Hungarian flag was also flown on the Polish airline’s parade float, and LOT Sales Director Michal Fijol and Sales Director for North America Dominic Bernando also joined the parade, as well as Consul General Zita Bencsik and, in celebration of Hungarian-Polish friendship and the launching of the new route, the representatives of several local Hungarian organisations, who arrived at the airport to welcome the flight directly from the city centre parade.
At the official launch celebrations, LOT representatives stressed that the largest Polish diaspora in the United States, some 1.5-2 million Polish Americans, live in and around the city of Chicago, and this played a determining role in choosing the destination for the airline’s second direct route to the U.S., making Chicago an obvious choice.
The existence of the air route in Chicago is strongly linked to maintaining Hungarian-Polish friendship, as well as being a tangible achievement and symbol of Visegrád Group (V4) cooperation, which includes the successful cooperation between the “Polish-Hungarian tandem” active in Chicago, Consul General Zita Bencsik said in her speech.
Services Director of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport Susan Kurland highlighted the active presence of the Hungarian community in the city and declared that the new direct air route between Budapest and Chicago is further proof of the realisation of the airport’s consistent development goal of ensuring that O’Hare truly plays the role of an international air travel hub that offers the broadest possible range of travel destinations.
(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)
