New flights to Vienna, options from Malta to the US

In addition to its existing seasonal Malta-Stuttgart and Malta-Basel routes, airberlin has announced that it is to fly between Malta and Vienna, starting this summer.

It’s always worth remembering that one of the key benefits of airberlin is the low taxes charged on routes between Germany and the US, and that you can pay for those flights with Avios.

With this in mind, a very good value way of getting from Malta to the US is to fly via Stuttgart (or Berlin, albeit not with airberlin from Malta, as they don’t fly there) and travel from Germany to one of airberlin’s many US destinations. Although technically a “budget” airline, you can also fly business class on airberlin.

For example, a business class return flight between Stuttgart and Miami in May 2014, will set you back 100,000 Avios plus just £64 in tax.

Payment with Avios for airberlin flights is possible by booking them through the BA Executive Club website. You will of course need to be a member.

(With thanks to Raffles at Headforpoints)