Alitalia (AZA, Rome Fiumicino) moved the bulk of its operations from Milan Malpensa to Milan Linate as of August 1, following the limited reopening of the latter in mid-July, ch-aviation analysis has revealed.
The Italian flag carrier relocated its three territorial continuity routes to airports in Sardinia (Alghero, Cagliari, and Olbia) from Malpensa to Linate starting on July 24. The remainder of its domestic and European routes were moved a week later. Following the relocation, Alitalia connects Malpensa with just Rome Fiumicino (2x daily) and Cagliari (weekly), the ch-aviation schedules module shows.
Alitalia plans to restart long-haul operations from Malpensa in the coming weeks; first, to New York JFK on September 2, and then to Tokyo Narita on October 3. It does not have any imminent plans to add any new short-haul routes from the airport.
Located much closer to the centre of Milan, Linate was closed on March 16 when authorities decided to consolidate traffic serving the region of Lombardy at one airport. Linate reopened on July 13, restricted to a maximum of 10 movements per hour (five arrivals and five departures) due to both the need of physical distancing between passengers and ongoing construction works. The airport's full capacity is 18 movements per hour. Milan Bergamo already reopened on May 18.
Alitalia remains by far the largest operator at Linate with a 90.7% market share by capacity. The airport is also served by Lufthansa, Air France, Iberia, easyJet Europe, and Air Malta.
