Vucic, Hill inaugurate first Air Serbia flight to Chicago

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and US Ambassador to Belgrade Christopher Hill officially inaugurated the first Air Serbia flight to Chicago on Wednesday morning.

"This is a great and important day for all of us, there are many journalists here who were not even born when flights between Belgrade and Chicago ceased to exist 31 years ago," Vucic said after a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport.

"Today, Air Serbia is the only company in the region with which you can fly to two large American cities - New York and Chicago," Vucic said.

He noted that the volume of Serbia-US trade had totalled 400 mln dollars a decade ago, compared to 1.3 bln today.

"That is some success, but I believe trade with the US can and must be much higher," he said.

He said the flights to Chicago would connect Serbia with its sizable diaspora in the US and also provide a good connection to Canada and western and mid-western US states.

"Besides connecting Serbs with Serbs, this will also connect us with the American people. We will learn more about the US and I believe they will learn more about us, too," he said.