Delta Air Lines is set to launch its first-ever service to the European destination of Malta tomorrow (June 7). While the Malta – US market has previously been served by European carriers on two separate occasions, this will mark the first time a North American carrier serves the market. This will also be the third new European destination the airline has launched services to this summer.

With Malta joining Delta’s network, the carrier is set to operate a record number of flights during the summer, with the carrier deploying the most capacity to Europe, compared to its competitors in the US.

First Time To Malta – Delta’s Newest Transatlantic Route

Credit: Shutterstock

American carrier Delta Air Lines will be launching its three-weekly services to Malta Luqa International Airport (MLA) from its hub at New York JFK Airport on the East Coast tomorrow. The carrier will be utilizing its fleet of Boeing 767-300ER to operate this seasonal route, which will be served until the end of October, coinciding with the transition from IATA’s summer schedule to winter schedule.

With the passenger demand data indicating around 95,000 people traveling between North America and Malta in 2025, the airline can enjoy being the only direct operator between the North American continent and the European nation for the coming months. The airline will be operating the following itinerary:

The three Europe-bound services, DL148, will operate on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while the return service, DL149, will operate on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Upon launching services to Malta tomorrow, the carrier would have added three new destinations to its network, alongside other route launches to existing European destinations from the airline’s various bases. The airline, during July, will have more daily departures to Europe than it has ever done before, and the carrier will be the largest U.S. airline (by capacity) across the Atlantic this summer.

Record 96 Daily Departures To Europe

Credit: Shutterstock

Data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, indicate that Delta will be operating up to 96 daily flights to Europe during the month of July, across the 28 European destinations the carrier serves. Of these, the two largest operations will be from the airline’s hub in JFK and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), with data indicating 961 and 749 departures, respectively, across July. The three new European destinations of Malta, Olbia and Porto will be operated from JFK.

While the Portuguese city of Porto will be served daily, the airline will operate four weekly services to Olbia, Italy, and the aforementioned three weekly services to Malta. Furthermore, the carrier will be using its fleet of 767-300ERs to serve all three destinations. The following interactive map shows the details of these routes:

Overall, for the third quarter (Q3) of 2026, the airline has scheduled over 4.5 million two-way seats, as the carrier will operate 81 routes to Europe, compared to 77 during the same period in 2025. The two bases with the largest increase in European connectivity recorded include Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), with the airports recording 25% and 21% more capacity to Europe this summer, compared to last.

Largest and Fastest-Growing European Markets

Credit: Shutterstock

The US-Europe transatlantic market is a highly competitive yet lucrative market for the major US and European carriers, with different airlines focusing on different markets. For Delta, the two largest European markets are the Netherlands and France. For the month of July, the carrier is scheduled to operate 496 flights to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) and 421 flights to Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport (CDG).

This comes as no surprise considering both AMS and CDG are home to KLM and Air France, which are Delta’s partners in the Transatlantic Joint Venture and SkyTeam alliance. The partnership allows Delta to rely on KLM and Air France to provide its passengers with more flexible transatlantic itineraries, but also to provide better onward connectivity within Europe and beyond.

On the other hand, the airline’s fastest-growing European market is Italy. With the airline launching services to Olbia two weeks ago, Delta now serves 15 destinations within Italy. Data indicates the airline’s capacity to the Italian market has increased by 20.6% from 2024 to 2025, and a further 6.5% increase was recorded this year. Therefore, Delta now also has a larger market share of nearly 28% in the US-Italy market, when compared to its other American competitors.