The city of Valencia will recover its direct air connection with New York in June 2027, operated by United Airlines with three weekly frequencies. The company’s CEO, Scott Kirby, announced today the new routes that the American airline will operate with its new Airbus A321XLRs, among which are the connection with Newark-Valencia and also with Ibiza. Valencia airport resumes the connection fifteen years after another company, Delta Airlines, operated it between 2009 and 2012, when it was suppressed.
United Airlines’ new route represents a milestone for the city’s international connectivity, which once again has a direct link with one of its strategic markets. For the first time, Valencia will also have two direct intercontinental connections with the American continent (New York and Montreal), reinforcing a connectivity that has experienced significant growth in recent years.
The Visit València Foundation, responsible for municipal tourism policy, points out that the new route is due to a change in model to promote in markets and with demand profiles capable of generating a greater positive impact on the city. In this context, for the past three years, the Foundation has been intensifying its promotional activity in the United States and the entire North American market.
Visit València, hand in hand with the tourism department of the Generalitat Valenciana, is developing the America Plan, aimed at the United States, Canada, and Mexico, priority markets due to their growth potential, the expansion of their air connectivity with Spain, and their affinity with the Mediterranean lifestyle. The strategy seeks to strengthen València’s positioning and attract higher-value visitors throughout the year, especially those interested in culture, gastronomy, and experiences.
In the case of the USA, FOCUS data, the tourism intelligence system of the Visit València Foundation, shows the profile of a traveler who plans more than 120 days in advance, travels throughout the year, and has a high spending capacity. In 80% of cases, their average daily expenditure is between 150 and 400 euros. Furthermore, New York is among the main source markets for searches towards the city, along with Washington and Boston on the East Coast.
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The new route will be operated, as announced by the airline, with the Airbus A321XLR, a new generation aircraft specifically designed to cover long-haul routes with greater efficiency. The model can reach up to 8,700 kilometers of range and allows direct transatlantic connections via a single-aisle aircraft.
The use of this type of aircraft thus allows reconciling the growth of Valencia’s international connectivity with the city’s commitment to a more sustainable tourism model, reducing the impact associated with new air connections and acoustic incidence in the airport environment.
The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Juan Francisco Pérez Llorca, highlighted that the announcement of Valencia’s connection with the United States is “excellent news for the Valencian Community and for the entire tourism sector,” as it “advances a strategic connection with the United States and confirms the growing interest of the North American market in our destination.”
The Councilor for Tourism, Innovation and Investments and president of the Visit València Foundation, Paula Llobet, emphasized that this new connection “is the result of a strategy that we have been working on for years together with Turisme Comunitat Valenciana and Cámara Valencia.”
