Anthony Piovesan
The Costa del Sol will once again have a direct flight connection to New York, a major American airline has announced.
United Airlines will start flying direct between New York and Malaga as the city deemed the gateway to Spain’s Costa del Sol surges in popularity.
Malaga was among five other European cities the major American carrier will fly to as it expands its transatlantic summer flying schedule.
There will be three weekly flights to the American capital from May 31 next year until the end of September, 2023, the carrier announced on Wednesday.
The new schedule recovers the flight route to New York after Delta Air Lines canceled its direct flights between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) and Malaga-Costa del Sol Airport (AGP) in 2019.
At the time Delta Air Lines deemed the route was not a business destination to which the carrier could sell its high-yielding seats.
Senior vice-president of global network planning and alliances Patrick Quayle said United Airlines expected ‘another busy summer’ for international travel.
All flights will depart from the airline’s east-coast hub at New York-area’s Newark Liberty International airport.
It comes amid a booming holiday season for the region where tourists spent more money than before the pandemic in Andalucia, according to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics.
Europe-wide research also found Malaga was one of the happiest cities to live in.
About 96% of people surveyed in a recent poll by Urban Audit – a research group from the European Commission – said they were ‘satisfied to live’ in the Andalucian city, placing it in the top 15 of all 79 European cities surveyed.
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