Direct flights between Malta and New York will be launched from June, Foreign and Tourism Minister Ian Borg announced on Tuesday.
“Sales will start tonight,” Borg said when speaking at an activity in Vittoriosa.
The flights will be operated by Delta Airlines between New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport and Malta International Airport.
The airline will operate an initial schedule of three weekly flights using a Boeing 767-300, between June and October.
“This service will provide Malta with the long-awaited breakthrough into the North American market, including the United States of America and Canada, while further consolidating Malta-USA cultural, economic and people-to-people cooperation,” Borg said.
“This is the game-changer that we have been working to attain for the last year. It is also an affirmation of the synergy between our tourism and aviation authorities, the Malta International Airport, and the Foreign Ministry, including crucial talks during my high-level meetings in Washington earlier this month.”
“The new long-haul flights to and from the USA will push us forward in our objective for Malta’s continued shift towards a higher value-added tourism mix, in line with the objectives of the National Tourism Strategy 2030, and the country’s Vision 2050,” Borg added.
Malta’s stronger presence in the North American market, as indicated by this milestone announcement by Delta Air Lines, is tangible proof of the tourism authorities’ commitment to grow tourism’s contribution to the economy by affecting shifts in tourism demand streams for Malta, the Tourism Minister said.
Borg said the Malta Tourism Authority will be allocating additional funding to support this direct transatlantic flight. It would be re-allocating budgets previously earmarked for sponsorship of music events in summer, to the promotion of culture tourism and its various streams – including religious tourism, heritage tourism, military tourism, art tourism, and culinary tourism, among other areas.
Delta Air Lines is one of the largest airlines in the United States. It operates over 4,000 flights daily and serves 275 destinations in 50 countries.
The minister’s announcement came despite a post on the airline’s website last month where it asked members of its loyalty program to vote on whether the airline should fly to Malta, Ibiza and Sardinia. The result was meant to be revealed in late September.
Currently, there are no direct flights between Malta and the US.
The last regular direct flights between Malta and the USA were in the 1990s following a partnership between Air Malta and Balkan Airlines which saw flights from Sofia to New York stop in Malta. The service was discontinued after a few months.
In 2021 Lufthansa operated 12 direct charter flights between Newark (USA) and Malta to ferry cruise passengers.
Credits: Delta
