Milan Malpensa Airport "City of Milan" Aeroporto di Milano-Malpensa "Città di Milano"
IATA: MXP – ICAO: LIMC
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Societá Enti Aeroportuali (SEA) Aeroporti di Milano
Serves		Milan
Location		Somma Lombardo, Italy
Hub for		Air Italy Air One Blue Panorama Airlines Cargoitalia EasyJet Eurofly Livingston Energy Flight Neos
Elevation AMSL		768 ft / 234 m
Coordinates		45°37′48″N 008°43′23″E / 45.63°N 8.72306°E / 45.63; 8.72306 (Milan Malpensa Airport)Coordinates: 45°37′48″N 008°43′23″E / 45.63°N 8.72306°E / 45.63; 8.72306 (Milan Malpensa Airport)
Website		www.sea-aeroportimilano.it
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
17L/35R	3,920	12,861	Asphalt
17R/35L	3,920	12,861	Asphalt
Source: Italian AIP at EUROCONTROL

Milano Malpensa Airport "City of Milan" (IATA: MXP, ICAO: LIMC), former "Aeroporto Città di Busto Arsizio" is Milan's largest airport. It is located 39.97 km (24.83 mi) northwest of central Milan, Italy. It is one of 3 airports in the Milan metropolitan area.

The airport is connected to Milan by the Milano-Varese highway as well as by the "Malpensa Express" train starting from the Milan Cadorna railway station (LeNord regional railways) and taking about 40 minutes. It is also connected to Linate Airport by a scheduled bus service and by Milan's local transportation. The Milan airport system has a third international airport, Orio al Serio Airport, which serves low-cost traffic.

Malpensa was the 23rd busiest airport in Europe in terms of passengers, handling 17,551,635 passengers in 2009 (25.8 million with Linate, the second airport of Milan, closer to downtown and over 33 million with Orio al Serio Airport, Milan's low-cost airport). As of early 2008, Malpensa remains the top Italian airport in terms of international traffic, together with Rome Leonardo da Vinci Airport in terms of total passengers. As far as hub transit passengers are concerned it is also the second airport in Italy after Rome, according to ASSAEROPORTI traffic data. It is also the leading air freight gateway to Italy. Malpensa serves a population of over 15 million inhabitants.

easyJet has a dedicated Terminal (T2) and Malpensa is that company's biggest base outside the UK.

In 2008 Lufthansa announced plans to create its first Hub outside Germany, and its fourth European hub. In October 2008 Lufthansa set up its Italian division, Lufthansa Italia. SEA (the company which controls Milan's airports) and Lufthansa have a memorandum of understanding for future development and improvement of current facilities. In July 2009 Lufthansa announced that it had requested 10 additional daily slots at Malpensa. As of July 2010, "Lufhtansa Italia" serves fifteen destinations from Milan.

Malpensa has two terminals and a third runway has been announced, with completion set for 2012. There is also a dedicated cargo terminal called "CargoCity", which currently handles over 410,000 tons of yearly traffic.

Ground handling

Ground handling services have been slowly deregulated and have seen SEA (the airport authority) create SEA Handling and the arrival of private handler ATA Handling. ATA Handling provides all services apart from bus transport to/from aircraft (originally subcontracted to SEA Handling, now subcontracted to Air Pullman) and disabled assistance. Up to 2001 all ground handling services were provided by SEA and TWA. In the first few years of deregulation some airlines put their own staff for customer assistance but Air One and British Airways realised that it was too expensive and so dismissed them. United Airlines stopped flying to Malpensa. To date the only airline with its own check-in staff remains KLM. Passenger handling is provided by SEA Handling, ATA Handling, Aviapartner, Globeground Italia and ICTS Italia. Ramp services are provided by SEA Handling, ATA and recently Aviapartner. SEA Handling provides 80% of ramp services mostly thanks to its major customer Alitalia.

In May 2006, Italy's Civil Aviation Authority took off the limitation of two ramp handlers. Aviapartner and ARE Group announced that they would create a new company called Aviapartner (owned 51% by Aviapartner and 49% ARE Group) to serve Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino. There are fears that luggage mishandling will go up.

Aviapartner has started operating serving Iberia flights and signing more contracts as time has gone on. However, SEA Handling maintains a dominant position and is reorganising itself to be more competitive by going from a monopolistic mentality to free market one.

Security services

Airport security services were transferred in 2000 from the Polizia di Stato (State Police) to SEA which created an internal division called SEA Airport Security. Up to 2002 SEA was assisted by IVRI in providing security services but the contract was not renewed. SEA Airport Security is supervised by Polizia di Stato (Italian State Police), Guardia di Finanza (Italian Military Customs Police) and Ente Nazionale Aviazione Civile (Italy's Civil Aviation Authority). Carabinieri supervise ramp entrance. Furthermore some airlines rely on private security companies (such as ICTS Italia, SEA Airport Security, Gruppo Sicurezza etc) to provide ID check and airplane guarding.

Terminals, airlines and destinations

Malpensa has two terminals:

Terminal 1

• will be divided into three sections:
  • 1A, which handles domestic and intra-Schengen flights
  • 1B, which handles non-Schengen flights
  • 1C, which is currently under construction

Terminal 2

• is used by Low Cost Carriers (currently only easyJet). Previously Terminal 2 was also used for charter services. Charter flights are now operated from Terminal 1.

Lufthansa's first A380 making a special visit, with the main terminal in the background

Milan Malpensa Airport
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Milan Malpensa Airport
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Milan Malpensa Airport
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Milan Malpensa Airport
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Milan Malpensa Airport
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Milan Malpensa Airport
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Milan Malpensa Airport
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Milan Malpensa Airport
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Milan Malpensa Airport
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Milan Malpensa Airport
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Milan Malpensa Airport
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Milan Malpensa Airport
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Notes

• ^1 These flights have an intermediate stop before arriving at their listed destinations, but the airline does not have local traffic rights on the leg.

Cargo airlines

Traffic and statistics

Transport links

Rail

Malpensa Express at Milano-Cadorna Railway Station

Connection between the rail station and the airport

Malpensa Airport Diagram

• Malpensa is linked to Milan Cadorna Station (connection with Milan's subway's Line M2 (Green) and Line M1 (Red), and the Suburban and the Regional Railway Service) by the Malpensa Express, with intermediate stops at Busto Arsizio FNM, Saronno Centrale (connection with regional trains bound for Varese and Como) and Milano Bovisa (connection with the Passante track of the suburban railways). Malpensa Express arrives at the Terminal 1, an additional bus travel is required to reach Terminal 2. Journey time is 29 minutes for non-stop services and 34 minutes for services calling at Busto Arsizio, Saronno and Bovisa.

• A second Express service to Milan Central Station will begin with the winter rail schedule change (13th of December 2010). There will be a train every 30 minutes calling at Milan Porta Garibaldi station; journey time will be 41 minutes. During rush hours, services will also call at Milano Bovisa station and Saronno Centrale; for these services journey time will be 47 minutes.

• Two daily High Speed (Alta Velocità) services link Milan Malpensa's railway station, to Florence (calling at Milano Centrale, Bologna Centrale and Firenze Santa Maria Novella) and Naples (calling at Milano Centrale, Bologna Centrale, Firenze Santa Maria Novella, Roma Termini, Napoli Centrale).

• Suburban Line S10 (Milano Rogoredo-Milano Bovisa) has been running to Malpensa since June 2010 . Trains call at: Ferno, Busto Arsizio, Castellanza, Rescaldina, Saronno Centrale, Milano Bovisa, Milano Lancetti, Milano Porta Garibaldi M2 (Green), Milano Repubblica M3 (Yellow), Milano Porta Venezia M1 (Red), Milano Dateo and Milano Porta Vittoria.

• There is also a shuttle connection between Malpensa Airport railway station and Busto Arsizio FS . From here there are connections with Milan's railway stations of Milano Centrale and Milano Porta Garibaldi.

• The Malpensa-Varese-Mendrisio (CH)-Lugano (CH) line is being built and will be finished by 2012. There are future plans also to connect Gallarate Station (FS) and Milan's Centrale Station (FS) allowing for easy connections onto high-speed international lines.

Bus

Malpensa Shuttle and Malpensa Bus Express connect the airport to Milan Central Station (Trenitalia's National Railway hub) and the metro. Stops at the Milan Fair are provided on request. Travel time is about an hour (longer during heavy traffic).

A free shuttle bus links Terminal 1 & 2 every 20 minutes 24 hours a day, within the airport. Travel time to go from one terminal to the other is about 15 minutes.

Malpensa is also connected by bus to Linate Airport and to various cities in northern Italy with Lufthansa Airport Bus(like Turin, Novara, Como, Varese, Bergamo and Brescia) and Switzerland.

Since February 2010, Lufthansa Airport Bus, in partnership with Autostrade SpA, connects Milan Central Station, with Terminal 1 & 2 , with stops in Fieramilanocity and Milan Fair - Rho/Pero on request, every 20 minutes. Furthermore this new service links the Airport with the nearby Lombard provinces of Varese, Como, Bergamo and Brescia, those of Alessandria, Novara and Turin in Piedmont, Genoa in Liguria and also Bellinzona, Chiasso and Lugano in Switzerland ). For these destinations passengers can also enjoy an additional limousine transfer service with high-end car or minibus (max. 8 people) bookable until 24 hours.

Taxi

Taxis are available at the Arrivals of Terminal 1 & 2.

Automobile connections

Malpensa Airport is connected by a four-lane highway to the A8 motorway (connecting Switzerland to Milan) and by a four-lane highway to the A4 motorway linking Milan to Turin and to the Strada Statale 11.

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
We don't guarantee the information is fresh and accurate. The data may be wrong or outdated.
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