Air Transat will now fly direct from Toronto-Montreal to Budapest once a week on a 346-seat Airbus A330-300. Last year 34,000 Canadians visited Hungary, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, who attended the inauguration ceremony. He said that the new route will help service the 314,000 Hungarians currently living in Toronto.

Direct connections between North America and Hungary came to an end in 2008, four years before Hungarian airline Malév was finally grounded in 2012. Initially, direct flights to Toronto were halted, then came New York City, Budapest Airport CEO Jost Lammers said, adding that the airportʼs goal is to increase flight frequency to Canada to two times a week. Air Transat is the only carrier that flies direct from Canada to Eastern Europe.