Days after United Airlines has confirmed that it will maintain the direct flight from Malaga to New York next summer season, which will be … the fourth to operate this route, the president of Turismo Costa del Sol, Francisco Salado, highlights the importance of consolidating this connection and announces that negotiations are progressing with Delta Air Lines, an American company that connected the Malaga airport with the Big Apple for eleven years and until 2019, to open a new route with Atlanta. «We cannot give details, but negotiations are advanced. The important thing is that there is interest from other companies to fly to Malaga, such as Delta Airlines, which has already operated on the Costa del Sol,” he says.
Salado points out that they have presented feasibility reports on this route that would connect with the main air transport hub in the United States. However, he highlights that for these companies it is not only important that they balance the accounts but the availability of aircraft is decisive in making these types of decisions. “On many occasions it is what stops them from taking flight,” says Salado. In this sense, the general director of Tourism Costa del Sol, Antonio Díaz, points out that the deliveries of new A321XLR aircraft, narrow-body but designed to carry out long-range flights as if they were wide-body aircraft, open great opportunities for Malaga to have new long-haul routes. “It is easier to fill this type of 180-seat, single-aisle aircraft and guarantee the profitability of these connections,” he says, adding that there are companies that are interested in scheduling flights from the Costa del Sol with these planes.
Salado also points out that contacts are being maintained to establish another direct route from Malaga to Miami, but from the statements made it seems that these contacts are not as advanced as the flight to the Atlanta airport, which is considered a vital air transport center and one of the busiest in the world due to its strategic location, its role as the main operations center for Delta Air Lines, and its connection capacity. In 2024, it was the world’s busiest airport in terms of passengers and seating capacity with 108 million users. Its location in the southeast of the United States contributes to this, making it a key point for connecting flights between the east and west coasts of the country.
Salado recalled that Delta Air Lines was connecting the Costa del Sol with New York for eleven years. It was in 2019 when it announced the cessation of this operation that it carried out in a ‘joint venture’ with Air France and KLM.