Lufthansa has completed the first of 12 chartered flights between Newark USA and Malta to ferry cruise passengers.
The non-stop flight was operated on Saturday, bringing the mostly American passengers to Malta to board a Viking Cruises ship in Grand Harbour.
The flights will be operated three times a week throughout this week using Airbus A350s.
The flights take some eight and a half hours.
“We are delighted to be back in the Mediterranean and to be homeporting in Valletta. On behalf of the entire Viking family, we thank the government of Malta for its support and partnership in developing these fantastic new voyages,” – Torstein Hagen, Chairman of Viking told Cruise Industry News.
The first flight was operated by D-AIXL. Photo: RadarBox.comViking has based two ships in Malta for Mediterranean cruises, the Viking Sea and Viking Venus, each able to carry 930 passengers. The flights carry almost 300 passengers each.