Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic inaugurated the first Air Serbia flight to Chicago at Nikola Tesla Airport on Wednesday, a press release said.

It said that Vucic and US Ambassador Christopher Hill spoke at the ceremony.

Vucic is quoted as saying that the US authorities gave the Serbian national air carrier “the best possible conditions in both New York and Chicago so that our company can satisfy the interest of all people from the region”. According to Vucic, Chicago-Belgrade flights are fully booked until 3 June.

He said that the twice weekly flights, resumed after a break of 30 years, connect “the huge Serbian diaspora living in the central part of the USA with its mother country”.

Ambassador Hill was not quoted in the press release.