Air Malta will start operating direct flights to Venice's Marco Polo Airport three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, starting on 2 June. 

Air Malta country manager Edwin Caruana said that the airline is confident of attaining its projections of 13,000 passengers on the route.

The whole of the north eastern city is listed as a World Heritage Site, and is well known for its beautiful canals, architecture and art. 

The most famous is the area consisting of the 118 islands in the main districts that are called 'Sestieri' where the main monuments and sights are located. 

Other main attractions include the Isola Della Giudecca and Lido di Venezia, as well as the isands of Murano, Torcello, San Francesco del Deserto and Burano. 

Simon Kamsky, MTA director of marketing for southern Europe said that the new Air Malta route between Malta and Venice Marco Polo is excellent news and augurs well for the continued growth in tourism from the Veneto region as well as the Friuli Venezia Giulia region.

"This route will continue to assist with Malta's tourism growth, which since 2009 is the 2nd most important market for tourism to Malta with over 230,000 Italians visiting Malta in 2013. 

"Together, we will have the opportunity to attract group business, both leisure and meetings, incentives, conference and exhibitions, as well as increase weekend breaks, diving and English language visitors," Mr Kamsky said. 

The director of business and marketing at Venice airport Camillo Bozzolo expressed his pride that Venice is again on Air Malta's network map. 

"Besides boosting the point-to-point traffic, the new direct services operated by Air Malta will come as a new opportunity for passengers interested to connect to the carrier's network destinations in the Mediterranean area," Mr Bozzolo said. 

Flights will depart at 08:10am from Malta, arriving in Venice at 10:10am. 

The return flight will take place at 11:10am, arriving in Malta at 13:10am.

Flights can already start being booked on www.airmalta.com