Malpensa International Airport

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Malpensa International Airport
Aeroporto di Milano-Malpensa
IATA: MXP – ICAO: LIMC
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator SEA - Aeroporti di Milano
Location Milan, Italy
Elevation AMSL 767 ft / 234 m
Coordinates 45°37′50″N 008°43′41″E / 45.63056, 8.72806
Website www.sea-aeroportimilano.it
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
17L/35R 3,915 12,844 Asphalt
17R/35L 3,915 12,844 Asphalt
Source: DAFIF[1][2]

Malpensa International Airport (IATA: MXP, ICAO: LIMC) is located in the province of Varese, at more than 45 Km far from Milan, Italy. It is one of 3 international airports in the Milan area.

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

Malpensa handled over 23.8 million passengers in 2007 (over 33 million with Linate, the second airport of Milan, closer to downtown and over 39 million with Orio al Serio Airport, Milan's low cost airport). Until early 2008, Malpensa remains the top Italian airport in terms of international traffic, together with Rome Leonardo da Vinci International 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 leading freight air gateway to Italy. Malpensa serves a population of over 15 million inhabitants.

In late 2007, Alitalia announced the closure of its major hub operations at Malpensa, after deciding to focus most of its hub operations at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci International Airport. Several point-to-point flights will continue between Malpensa and some destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia. Milan will be left with only three long-haul routes operated by Alitalia: New York-JFK, Tokyo-Narita, and Sao Paulo-Guarulhos.

Malpensa has two terminals, T1 for commercial traffic and T2 for charter and low-fare traffic. The T1 has two satellites: A - National and European traffic (Schengen area); B - International traffic (extra Schengen area). The third satellite (C) is under construction and a third runway is going to be built. There is also a dedicated cargo terminal called "CargoCity" with over 410,000 tons of yearly traffic.

Airview of Malpensa International Airport.
Airview of Malpensa International Airport.

Contents

[edit] Traffic

Year Passengers Movements Cargo (tons)
Jan-Apr 2008 6,782,294 78,840 163,817
2007 23,885,391 267,941 486,666
2006 21,767,267 247,456 419,128
2005 19,630,514 227,718 384,752
2004 18,554,874 218,048 361,237
2003 17,621,585 213,554 362,587
2002 17,441,250 214,886 328,241
2001 18,570,494 236,409 323,707
2000 20,716,815 249,107 301,045
Source: Assaeroporti

[edit] Transport links

[edit] Rail

Malpensa Airport is linked to Milan Cadorna Station (connection with Milan's subway, the Suburban and the Regional Railway Service) by the Malpensa Express. Trains depart from Terminal 1 every 30 minutes and the journey lasts about 40 minutes.

[edit] Bus

Malpensa Shuttle and Malpensa Bus Express connect the airport to Milan Central Station (Trenitalia's National Railway hub) and the Subway. Stops at the Milan Fair are provided on request. Travel time is about an hour, but it may take much longer depending on traffic conditions.

A free shuttle bus links Terminal 1 & 2 every 20 minutes 24 hours a day, within the airport.

Malpensa is also connected to Linate Airport and to various Northern cities in Italy and Switzerland by buses.

Moreover a 30-minute express train links the Milan Northern Cadorna railway station with the airport.

[edit] Taxi

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

[edit] Car

Malpensa International Airport is connected by a four-lane highway to the A8 motorway (connecting Switzerland to Milan) and as from April 2008, by a four-lane highway to the A4 motorway linking Milan to Turin.

[edit] 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 (subcontracted to SEA Handling) 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.

[edit] Security services

Airport security services have been 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 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.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Terminal 1-A

[edit] Terminal 1-B

Terminal 1-B at Malpensa International Airport
Terminal 1-B at Malpensa International Airport

[edit] Terminal 1-C

under construction

[edit] Terminal 2

  • easyJet (Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Bari, Berlin-Schönefeld, Bristol, Brussels [begins June 18], Bucharest-Otopeni, Cagliari, Catania, Edinburgh, Ibiza, London-Gatwick, Lisbon, Madrid, Malaga, Marrakech, Mykonos [begins June 10] Naples, Olbia, Palermo, Palma de Mallorca [begins June 20], Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Prague)
  • Volareweb (Alghero, Athens, Brindisi, Cagliari, Edinburgh [charter], Heraklion [seasonal; begins July 24], Ibiza [seasonal; begins July 22], Karpathos [charter], Kos [charter], Kraków, Lamezia Terme, Łódź, Malaga, Malta, Olbia [seasonal; begins June 10], Palma de Mallorca [seasonal; begins July 21], Paris-Orly, Pescara, Porto, Rhodes [seasonal; begins July 26], Skiathos [charter], Timişoara, Valencia, Warsaw, Wrocŀaw)

[edit] Cargo airlines

[edit] References

  1. ^ Airport information for LIMC at World Aero Data. Source: DAFIF.
  2. ^ Airport information for MXP at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF.
  3. ^ Air China to begin service to Beijing
  4. ^ Air One to begin service to Boston, Chicago
  5. ^ Pricing tickets below costs should stop: Jet Airways boss

[edit] External links