Yesterday I wrote about how Lufthansa loaded a rather surprising transatlantic route into the schedule. Now we know the reason for this route.
Continue reading: Mystery Solved: Lufthansa’s Newark To Malta Route
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I’m a SkyTeam loyalist. But having been to Malta before, I’d fly this in a heartbeat. Malta is one of only a handful of places I’ve been to and just have this burning, unrelenting desire to go back to. It’s just such a wonderful place.
Invariably, every time the people who I went with get together, the trip comes back up and we all start planning again.
Malta has been offering huge incentives to airlines willing to launch transatlantic services.
Viking Cruises has added a number of summer cruises that will sail from and return to Malta. Could this be why?
Ben,
LH Technik operates a major facility in Malta. Maybe they use this routing additionally to cycle in/out A350 for C checks, which is a service offered there.
Malta is not an usual place to begin or end a cruise. Most major cruise lines begin or end Mediterranean cruises in ports like Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Athens, Istanbul.
If Malta was offering huge incentives to launch transatlantic services, seems like something UA would have picked up. UA added Croatia and were also supposed to add Sicily. Interesting how LH snuck in, especially at EWR!
I would say this is cruise passenger flights as a lot of the ships are doing the Mediterranean routes this year rather than the RTW or transiting the Suez Canal.
Visited Malta a few years ago and loved it. As an American, one the things I enjoyed best was the distinct lack of American tourists so not sure if I'm happy with a direct flight
Agree with Isavethings.
Malta is wonderful due to lack of Americans (along the lines of Faroes)
A direct flight bringing in 800 Americans every week is a big impact on a small place.
Well if it turns out to be a seasonal passenger route open to the public to book, that's all Lufthansa's arguments against Emirates fifth freedom routes gone down the toilet! Good luck them trying to argue that point in future haha
Will there also be a MUC-MLA-MUC flight on the 359? Intra-European widebody flights seem pretty rare nowadays…
There has been direct service before. In the ‘90s Balkan operated SOF-MLA-JFK for a while.
Malta is expecting to have achieved herd immunity by 19 May 2021. This week the minister of tourism inaugurated the 'Malta Cruise & Fly' initiative, with Viking Cruises (I think) basing two cruise ships in the Grand Harbour. I expect the new route to EWR is likely linked to that.
On a side note, in 1999 and 2000 Air Malta had a direct flight to New York JFK. KM870 was originally a code-share operated with a Boeing B 767-200 of Balkan Bulgarian that routed SOF-MLA-JFK. Later on that was replaced with a wet lease operated by a Boeing B 757-200 of ATA that routed MLA-SNN-JFK and was also operated as KM870.
My money is on the cruise charter angle and add in the LH Technik angle while we are at it !
Certainly would make sense hitting two birds with one stone.
I really enjoyed visiting Malta a couple of years ago. While it was a bit nondescript in some ways, it was affordable, had a nice laid-back vibe and the local were friendly. I also thought the Hilton in St Julian is a good value on points. I was thinking of returning this summer travel opens up to Europe in the summer. The consenus seems to be that this will likely be possible, though I find the situation confusiing because June begins in a couple of weeks. Any idea when we will know, one way or the other, whether travel to Europe will be possible in June/July?
Answer is Viking Cruises:
https://twitter.com/xjonnyc/status/1393874724724387843?s=21
@Andy, 'Well if it turns out to be a seasonal passenger route open to the public to book, that’s all Lufthansa’s arguments against Emirates fifth freedom routes gone down the toilet! Good luck them trying to argue that point in future haha'
Yes but no, the EU is a single territory for aviation rights, so an EU carrier operating a flight from any EU airport to a third country doesn't need to exercise a fifth freedom privilege.
2 Viking ships will operate from Malta as from July. The ships are Viking Sea and Viking Venus.
It was announced by Tourism Minister 4 days ago
Bulgarian Airlines operated a code-shared flight with Air Malta from USA to Malta in the 1990s for sure, as I was stationed myself at Fort Benning and had to use the flights for an emergency. Since then, have also no recollection if anything similar was in place.
Great country. Loved its appearance in Pynchon's "V", loved visiting. Somewhat puzzled by the fate of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the question of organized crime more generally but guess it doesn't affect tourists.
What would you advise as the best course of action for purchasing a seat on the flight? Can one purchase a seat through Viking cruises without the cruise part? Or will LH likely open up seats later?
@ guflyer -- The flight was just loaded into the schedule, so I'd recommend waiting a few days. Shortly we should know one way or another if this flight will be on sale to the general public.
@ Dave -- Yeah, the flights are zeroed out as of now. Hopefully they go on sale soon. I'll post if there's any update.
My gut tells me these won't be for sale except in connection with Viking cruise.
Malta is a major destination for cruises. I lived in Malta in the late nineties and the USN Ships including the Nimitz were a frequent attraction during their R&Rs from the Kosovo Crisis. Seems like Paceville is going to be very busy this summer if these flights actually take off. It will be a nice change from the usual older British sun seekers.
I think the A350 heavy Maintenance checks are carried out at LH Technics Malta. Maybe it's cheaper to offer the seats on positioning flights than just do empty ferry flights between Germany and Malta.
Definitely seems like a tie up with the cruise industry and/or combined with regular maintenance at LH Techniks in Malta. Lived there 95-99 when my dad was the Ambassador there. Fantastic country and fascinating history. I recall that visiting Popeye's village was a lot of fun. My family and I loved spending our weekends on the yacht and going over to Gozo or Comino. Would be very odd to find a large group of Americans there, though.
If this is for real, it's a God send, as a Maltese living in Canada for over 40 years, I cannot tell you how exciting this would be. As oppose to a layover in Rome, France, Germany or Amsterdam. Also this would be great for getting your check in luggage onboard, as opposed to filling a lost luggage ticket, and you might get lucky if it gets there within a few days. I'm planning to return this July after being grounded for 17 months. Perhaps our prayers have been answered. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks for making my day, Ben. "Malta the Jewel of the Mediterranean". Cheers
Hey Lucky,
as you maybe know, Im writing for the german blog reisetopia. As I've read your article, I contacted Lufthansa. Its said: "Lufthansa plant in diesem Sommer eine Reihe von Flügen zwischen New York und Malta in Verbindung mit einer großen Reederei anzubieten, die Kreuzfahrten im Mittelmeer durchführt."
So there's an official confirmation. 🙂 Kind regards,
Liebe Grüße aus Deutschland!
Would love to see LH selling tickets on their positioning flights between Munich and Malta.
Don’t believe it. I am sure Viking cruises has a clause that prevents LH from doing so. They want to eliminate all Covid-related risks
..."the country is even incentivizing people to visit this summer..."
Can you add a post on this?
These LH flights ARE available to the public! You just have to be creative. Book a Viking cruise and don't board the ship. After all, the cruise part is rubbish. It's the Lufthansa flight that is worth the experience! I kid you not. Look at the many people who take a flight as a mileage run or even to do some undisturbed work. 😛
Malta not really is a fun place to visit. Just search for Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Will be like the day of the dead with all the boomers waiting for their disease lab to cruise around the mediterranean. Poor Malta, no one deserves that... :/