Malta welcomes Delta Air Lines; massive 7th+ new airline since 2024

Malta International Airport (IATA code: MLA) made history recently. On 8 June 2026, Delta Air Lines became the first North American operator to serve the island. It does so from New York JFK (3-weekly), which is MLA’s largest US market. Passengers may also connect elsewhere in the country via JFK. It is MLA’s new longest route.

MLA last had US flights in 2000, when Air Malta – as it was then called – used a leased 757 via Shannon. Meanwhile, Balkan Bulgarian – which was the predecessor of Bulgaria Air – flew Sofia-MLA-JFK between 1995 and 1997.

Other recent airline launches include Aer Lingus in 2024, along with LOT Polish, Medsky, Qatar Airways, SAS and Volotea in 2025. However, Condor pulled out in 2023, while the Maltese carrier Universal Air ceased all scheduled flights in 2025.

Ryanair is the largest carrier; Wizz Air doubles in size in a year

Cirium schedule information shows that MLA has 4.4 million one-way seats in S26, which is 17% higher than in S25. Capacity has also risen by 50% compared to before the pandemic in S19.

With almost 2.2 million departing seats, up 20% year-over-year, Ryanair remains by far MLA’s largest operator. The ULCC provides one in two seats. MLA is now the airline’s 14th most-served airport out of 222 facilities in its network this summer.

Ryanair has 70 routes from MLA in S26, with Catania, London STN, Rome FCO, Zagreb and Bologna being the top five markets. Compared to S25, Gothenburg, Newcastle, Palma de Mallorca and Tirana are now served. However, due to the war in the Middle East, Tel Aviv has been removed from its network.

Wizz Air’s growth has been considerable. Compared to last summer, the ULCC has nearly doubled in size, which means it has overtaken easyJet for the third spot. Ten routes are available, up from seven a year ago. Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Cluj-Napoca, Katowice, Rome FCO, Skopje, Tirana, Warsaw WAW and Warsaw WMI are now served.

Rome FCO overtakes London LGW as the top market

Based on having at least four departures, Cirium indicates that MLA has scheduled flights to 111 airports in S26. They are in 37 countries, with Italy, the UK, Poland, Germany and France being the top five nations by available capacity. Thanks to very strong growth of 55%, Poland has jumped two places to third. Unlike a year ago, Israel is no longer served, but the US now is.

With 244,000 one-way seats, Rome FCO remains MLA’s leading market. 49-weekly departures are available in July, provided by KM Malta (15), Ryanair (14), ITA Airways (13) and Wizz Air (7). Due to Wizz Air’s entry on 29 March 2026 and the use of the 239-seat A321neo, this market’s capacity has risen by 31% in a year, overtaking London LGW for the top spot.