Delta Air Lines has begun flying on a new route linking Malaga with New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport.

The first non-stop flight of the four times a week service touched down at Malaga last week, where passengers were greeted by a high-profile reception committee.

Among the dignitaries welcoming travellers were regional tourism councillor Luciano Alonso, US consul Roberta Aaron and Delta’s vice-chairman Frank Jahagin.

Authorities in Andalusia have spent more than €3 million (£2.4 billion) on promoting the service, in the hope of attracting more US visitors to the region.

Local media reports stated that 70 per cent of seats have already been booked for the first month of the service, prompting Delta to indicate that daily flights are a possibility.

Delta recently announced plans to upgrade the in-flight entertainment facilities on its aircraft. Among the choices it hopes to make available to passengers on an on-demand basis are video games, hundreds of films, music and HBO television shows.

A percentage of the thousands of passengers flying out of Southampton International Airport this coming Easter period will be heading for the Spanish regions of Alicante and Malaga, it has been reported.

The Daily Echo reports that an almost-record-breaking numbers of people will be using the southern hub, as they seek sunnier weather and a break from England.

Some 31,000 passengers are expected to pass through the terminals at Southampton, as they head to hotels, apartments and investment properties, among other accommodation, across Europe.

Earlier this month, budget airline easyJet released a statement saying that the two aforementioned Spanish locations were set to be popular with its customers during the Easter holiday period.

Popular tourist areas, such as Malaga and Alicante, are often seen by investors as ideal places to purchase property - due to the regular demand for accommodation.

Taxi drivers in the Costa del Sol tourist town of Malaga have opted not to go on strike in the build-up to this Easter weekend, it has been reported.

La Opinion de Malaga revealed that a written agreement produced by Malaga City Hall has prompted the workers to call off strike action they had planned earlier this month, according to TypicallySpanish.com.

Regular meetings will now be held between taxi drivers and the city hall from March 27th, while the drivers themselves will gather frequently to discuss matters related to the taxi-viability plan being suspended.

Prior to the decision, the planned protest over the unused licences of self-employed drivers being used in alternative ways, had threatened to cause problems on the roads during two of Malaga’s busiest days in springtime.

Budget airline easyJet recently announced that its UK to Malaga routes are going to be some of the busiest during the Easter period.

The company that developed Manchester’s Trafford Centre shopping complex is to try and recreate the plans on the Costa del Sol.

Peel Holdings has been given the go ahead to build a shopping mall similar in design to the one in north-west England, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Torremolinos will be the location for the 80-acre site, which is said to cost £500 million to construct.

Lindsey Ashworth, who is set to lead the project, told the newspaper: “While there will obviously be a flavour of the original Trafford Centre, the major difference is, because it’s in a warm climate, it can be outward-facing.”

The company representative added that bars and restaurants around the complex will have terracing, while some will be constructed around a lake.

Millions of Britons head to the Costa del Sol for their holidays every year, while many decide to purchase property in this part of Spain.

A new book has been written highlighting the famous names that have had some association with the beautiful village of Churriana, according to reports.

Local historian Cristobal Salazar has written a book Personajes de Churriana, which tells the tale of the Malaga district and the characters that have come from it.

Among the famous names are writer Ernest Hemingway who celebrated his 60th birthday at La Consula in July 1959.

Many influential names have been attracted by Churriana’s estates including El Retiro and San Javier.

Among them are Julio Caro Baroja, an anthropologist and the nephew of writer Pio Baroja.

Poet Maria Victoria Atenda and musician Francisco Martin Pino were some of the names who attended the launch of the book at Malaga City Hall.

The city hall has produced a thousand copies of the book, which can be purchased from the Junta de Distrito offices.

Malaga is full of history, with a number of exhibitions taking place throughout the year. One such exhibition is that of the Malaga artist Rafael Perez Estrada, which opened on April 23rd 2003 in the lower floor gallery of the Municipal Archives, Almeda Principal.

Leap year babies are being invited to celebrate their unusual birth dates together in style by attending a huge party in Malaga this year.

The Leap Association of people born on February 29th is organising the event, which hopes to bring together as many leap year babies as possible.

It is hoped that the get-together will get into the Guinness World Records for the highest number of people born on February 29th getting together in the same place.

The current record is held the gathering of 340 leap year babies which took place in Norway.

The celebration will be held at the La Brasa restaurant in the Alameda Principal.

Malaga is a great place to celebrate in style and has been increasing in popularity in recent years, since the opening of its Picasso Museum in 2003.

Over the next ten years, it is expected that many improvements will be made to the city as it vies for the title of European Culture Capital in the year 2016.

Next week will see a celebration of the cultural links between Ireland and southern Spain take place in the city of Malaga.

Famous throughout the art world as the birthplace of Pablo Picasso, Malaga was also the occasional home of one of Ireland’s most celebrated painters, George Campbell.

To coincide with the visit of an Irish tourism delegation to the Costa del Sol next week, a documentary film about Campbell’s life will be shown in tribute to the great artist, who died in 1979.

Born in County Wicklow, Campbell grew up in Belfast but made yearly trips to Spain for much of his adult life and established a second home in Malaga, where he would do much of his painting.

In recognition of his efforts to promote relations between Ireland and Spain, a street in Malaga was named after Campbell in 2005.

The Looking for George Campbell film will be shown at Malaga’s Castillo de Santa Catalina Hotel on February 27th.

Spain’s contribution to the world of art was recently celebrated in Andrew Graham-Dixon’s three-part BBC series The Art of Spain.

A new glass roof is currently being added to the famous cathedral in Malaga city to address a long-term problem with a leak.

Work on the roof is “progressing well” and should be completed in 12 month’s time, Typically Spanish reports.

The new glass structure is being built above the existing roof to give the cathedral more protection from the elements, with funding provided by a joint agreement between Malaga City Hall and the Junta de Andalucia.

According to the website, the 22 domes in the roof area of the cathedral will be preserved during the renovation work.

Built during the 17th century, Malaga Cathedral is known affectionately as La Manquita - loosely translated as ‘the one armed woman’ - by local people in the Costa del Sol city. This is because the building only has one tower, despite the original plans featuring two.

Combining elements of Renaissance and Baroque styles, the interior of the cathedral contains statues of saints carved by Pedro de Mena, one of Spain’s most revered craftsmen who spent several years of his life in Malaga.

The Art of Spain concludes this week and has proved popular with audiences keen to learn more about Spain’s unique contribution to modern European art.

A three-part BBC series presented by Andrew Graham-Dixon, the programme has seen the art expert travel from the south coast of Spain to the far north and trace the country’s historical development as an artistic nation on his journey.

Graham-Dixon considered Spain’s artistic identity in both paintings and architecture, so the Alcazar castle-palace in Seville or Gaudi’s buildings in Barcelona were afforded as much attention as Picasso’s Guernica, according to the Guardian.

“Spain has produced some of the most startling and original art ever created,” Mr Graham-Dixon said at the start of the series.

“It holds the key to understanding all of Europe and its culture,” he added.

Mr Graham-Dixon argued that Spanish art has perhaps played a more important role than the Italian masters in shaping the identity of Europe.

The final instalment of The Art of Spain can be seen on BBC Four this Thursday (February 14th) at 21:00 GMT.

Considered one of Spain’s finest and most influential artists, Picasso was born in Malaga in 1881.

The Spanish football team travelled to Malaga yesterday ahead of the friendly international game against France.

Luis Aragones’ team take on the French at Malaga FC’s La Roseleda stadium tonight (February 6th) as they continue their preparations for the European Championship in Austria and Switzerland this summer.

The squad gave a high-profile demonstration of Spain’s state of the art transport links by making the journey from Madrid to Malaga on the AVE train yesterday, Typically Spanish reports.

Launched in December, the new high-speed service connects the Spanish capital with the Costa del Sol city in just two hours and 30 minutes.

Included in the squad is the 17-year-old Barcelona striker Bojan Krkic, who will become the youngest ever player to represent Spain at international level if he is selected.

Aragones has also caused controversy by refusing to pick Real Madrid captain Raul for the national side, despite his current good form.

La Roselada has a capacity of 28,963 and was extensively rebuilt in 2006.