Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP)

Malpensa Airport is situated 45km (29 miles) from the city center of Milan. The official code is MXP. The Milan Airport is a large intercontinental establishment consisting of two terminal buildings (Terminal 1 and Terminal 2).

In 1998, Terminal 1 was established. The original terminal was re-named as Terminal 2. The new terminal is designed to handle up to 24 million passengers per year. When Terminal 1 was built, it included the addition of extensive car-parking facilities located at the terminal and the fast rail link to Milan. The railway station features the Express Train that travels directly to Cadorna Station in Milan. These facilities were required in order for Malpensa airport to become a major international hub in Italy.

Terminal 1 handles the majority of the flights for commercial traffic. It has two Satellites – A and B. Satellite A is dedicated to National and European traffic within the Schengen area, and Satellite B handles international traffic. A third Satellite C extension is currently under construction. The airport will also be adding a third runway. Terminal 2 is now used for charter flights and low-fare traffic. The cargo terminal (CargoCity) handles over 410,000 tons of traffic per year.

Passengers at Malpensa Airport can travel between the two terminals with a free shuttle bus that runs approximately every 10 – 15 minutes. The bus ride takes 8 minutes. The Milan airport is a cool oasis that contradicts the summer heat of Italy, with air conditioning and marble floors. There is an abundance of facilities serving the travelers’ every need. It is also well signposted in English and Italian. Information points in both terminals offer assistance with transfer flights, baggage claim, directions to Milan airport, and any other general enquiries. Arrival and departure facilities are located at street level.

The Milan airport system consists of Milan Malpensa, Linate and Orio al Serio, which is Milan’s third international airport serving low-cost traffic. Before Malpensa was established, Linate was Milan’s main airport. Linate is situated closer to the city. When MXP opened, all airline carriers were moved from Linate to Malpensa Airport, except for the national carrier Alitalia. This caused a potential problem for passengers that had to transfer between the airports. Nowadays, Alitalia airlines mostly operate, but always confirm that your connecting flight does not depart from Linate if you are arriving here.

Malpensa is Italy’s second largest airport in terms of international traffic. The country’s largest is Rome Fiumicino. The Milan airport handles an estimation of 25 million passengers every year. It is regarded to be the second largest airport in Italy in terms of hub transit passengers as well, according to the information of ASSAEROPORTI. Malpensa serves a population size of 15 million, making it the major air freight gateway to Italy.

Easyjet Hub - Terminal 2

Terminal 2 is totally dedicated to the low cost carrier Easyjet. Besides airports London Luton, London Stansted in the United Kingdom, Malpensa is EasyJet’s largest Hub. With its 13th aircraft to be based here arriving in 4th quarter of 2008, Easyjet has shown confidence to grow its operation in the Airport after Alitalia decided to shrink is presence here. From here Easyjet have flights to most major European cites including Barcelona, Malaga, London-Gatwick, Palma de Mallorca, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Prague, Copenhagen, Bristol, Sofia, Amsterdam and many more.

In January of 2009, Lufthansa airlines announced their plans to make Malpensa Airport part of their hub network, with the launch of Lufthansa Italia. The first flight was scheduled for 2 February. By the end of March 2009, Lufthansa promised eight destinations and 126 flights per week. Future development and improvement of current facilities have been decided between SEA and Lufthansa.

Passenger ground handling is dominated by SEA Handling. SEA is the airport authority. Many airlines discontinued using their own staff for customer assistance due to the expense. KLM remains as the only airline at Malpensa to offer their own check-in services.

Business facilities include the business center operated by Eurochange. Conference rooms, work stations, translator services, personal computers, internet access and mobile phone hire are available for passenger use. The business center is located in Terminal 1.

Malpensa Airport is well-equipped for disabled passengers, with free dedicated parking spaces in most of the parking lots, wheelchair ramps, elevators and disabled toilet facilities. The Sala Amica assistance area is located in Terminal 1, with telephones for the hearing-impaired and Braille magazines amongst their other facilities. Sala Amica offers assistance for arriving or departing disabled passengers.

Below is a sample of routes flight times and Airlines that fly from this Milan airport.

Lufthansa, easyJet and Alitalia are the three busiest Airlines that fly out; together they cover around 105 routes out of the total of 155. Lufthansa is the most frequent with around 483 flights a week out of a total of 3372. Lufthansa covers 14% of all outbound traffic movements. Franz Josef Strauss, Zürich-Kloten, London Heathrow, Charles De Gaulle, Capodichino and El Prat De Llobregat being the most frequent destinations.

You can see below a selection of nonstop flights covered with approximate times.

When arriving you will find most of the popular car rental companies situated in the arrivals hall. For your FREE Milan Car Hire quote please follow the link, alternatively you will find details of the car hire companies below.

The Milan airport offers free guided tours around its facilities.

Address of Milan Malpensa Airport

Aeroporto di Malpensa
21010 Varese,
Italy.

Telephone: +39 (0)2 7485 2200

Fax: +39 (0)2 7485 4010

Website: www.sea-aeroportimilano.it/en