The first United Airlines flight from New York lands at Malaga Airport
The first direct flight from New York in four years landed in the Costa del Sol at 7.25am this morning (Thursday), starting four months of operations three times a week between Newark and Malaga airports.
The United Airlines aircraft left Newark at 5.55pm local time and is the first flight from the Big Apple since the suspension of the route by Delta Airlines in 2019.
The Boeing 757-200 was full with 169 passengers and celebrated the first flight by cutting a ribbon in terminal C of Newark Airport. Passengers were then greeted with a warm reception at the arrival gates after it touched down in Malaga a few minutes ahead of schedule.
The new flight will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, until September 28th, and the first plane from Malaga to New York will leave tomorrow morning (June 2nd) at 9.40am. The American airline has scheduled 52 return flights with more than 17,000 seats available.
It is hoped that the route will spark a tourism boom across Andalucía, as a recent Turismo Costa del Sol report on United States tourism showed that Malaga hotels and tourist apartments received 146,905 American travellers last year, making it the eighth most important international market for the province, which was just 11% less than before the pandemic.
The mayor of Malaga, Francisco de la Torre, said talks of extending the connection with New York beyond summer are progressing and that he will hold a meeting with company officials to promote Malaga as an all-year-round destination.
"We do not want to be exclusive, but this route is useful not only to Malaga city, but to the coast, to the province of Malaga, to Granada, Cordoba, and Seville, in fact, the whole of Andalusia”, he said.
Share This Article
