There is no nonstop path from central Ohio to the Maltese archipelago, and that's precisely why routing strategy matters more on this itinerary than almost any other transatlantic booking I make. Business class from Columbus to Malta requires a connection, and the most reliable structure I've found pairs Delta's domestic metal out of CMH with a transatlantic hop on Delta or Lufthansa through Detroit, New York-JFK, or a European gateway like Frankfurt or Munich, before a final regional leg down to Malta International Airport via Air Malta's KM network or a Lufthansa Group partner. The most seamless version of this journey, in my experience, routes through Frankfurt or Munich, where Lufthansa's business class product—increasingly the Allegris suite on select long-haul aircraft, though still legacy business seating on many European narrowbodies—bridges nicely into Air Malta's shorter continental hop, which operates a comfortable if modest business cabin suited to the roughly two-hour final segment.
Total elapsed time hovers near ten hours of actual flying, but plan for a connection window of at least ninety minutes in Frankfurt or Munich, both of which have efficient Schengen transfer processes if your first leg clears you into the EU zone early. My insider tip: book the Delta-operated transatlantic segment when possible rather than a codeshare, since Delta's Detroit and JFK business cabins (Delta One) offer more consistent lie-flat comfort and better award availability than squeezing onto a partner carrier's older configuration—then let the shorter Lufthansa or Air Malta segment be the "connector" rather than the main event.
Seasonally, April, May, September, and October reward patient travelers with the best combination of mild Maltese weather and softer fare demand, avoiding both the summer surge and winter's thin scheduling. Given the multi-carrier complexity of this itinerary, setting up automated fare alerts across Delta and Lufthansa Group inventory is the smartest way to catch the pricing windows before they close.
