Linate and Malpensa airports

Linate Airport
Linate Airport covers an area of approximately 350 hectares in the south-eastern section of the province of Milan, in the areas of Peschiera Borromeo, Segrate and Milan. Forlanini Park, one of the largest parks in Milan metropolitan area, and the Idroscalo are adjacent to airport grounds. 

The airport is mainly dedicated to frequent flyer customers on particularly attractive domestic and international routes (both within the European Union and beyond). In 2016, Linate handled 5.9% passengers, 7.9% aircraft movements and 1.5% total cargo in Italy⁽¹⁾.

The airport has two landing and take-off runways, the first (2,442 metres long) for commercial aviation and the second (601 metres long) for general aviation. Flight infrastructure includes a main taxiway, approximately 2,100 metres long, a 4,000-metre fence system and 2 aircraft aprons. There are 45 stands, which offer a simultaneous parking capacity of 40 aircraft.

Linate Airport chart

The passenger terminal extends over 3 levels with a total surface area of about 75,000 m² (of which about 33,000 m² open to the public), and is equipped with 83 check-in counters and 24 gates, of which 5 are served by loading bridges and the rest for aircraft located in remote stands accessible by runway buses. 21% of terminal surface area open to the public is dedicated to commercial activities (retail and catering, car rental and banking) and 7.5% to services provided by airlines (check-in and ticketing). The cargo area has a goods warehouse measuring approximately 16,800 m² with a processing capacity of 80-100,000 tons /year.

Malpensa Airport
Malpensa Airport is located in high Lombardy valley, in the south-west section of the province of Varese, 48 km from Milan, linked via the railway network and a road system, including motorways, which connects the airport with the major regions of Northern Italy and Switzerland.

The land area covers 1,220 hectares on the territories of seven municipalities: Somma Lombardo, Casorate Sempione, Cardano al Campo, Samarate, Ferno, Lonate Pozzolo and Vizzola Ticino.
The entire airport grounds are part of the Lombardy Park of Ticino Valley, the first regional park in Italy, born in 1974 born to protect the rivers and the numerous natural habitats of the Ticino Valley from industrialization and encroaching urbanisation and to safeguard the rich biodiversity heritage.
Malpensa airport is the second in Italy for total number of aircraft movements and passenger number. In 2016, Malpensa managed 11.1% of total movements, 11.8% of passenger traffic and 52.6% of cargo transport recorded in Italy. It has two parallel runways, 808 metres apart, each 3,920 metres long, and is enabled for all aircraft in service. Runways do not allow independent parallel approaches. Taxiway and junction system extends about 19.4 km overall (28.5 km if you also consider the taxiing routes on the aprons). The 203 aircraft stands, of which 111 at Terminal 1, 43 at Terminal 2 and 49 at Malpensa Cargo, provide a maximum capacity of 155 aircraft parked simultaneously.

Malpensa Airport chart

There are two airport terminals for passengers. Malpensa Terminal 1, operational since 1998, was built based on a modular structure and consists of a main body (with 6 floors) and three satellites arranged on the aircraft apron and their loading bridges.
The three satellites are connected to the main body by a double tunnel for incoming and outgoing passengers and a covered corridor for the movement of bags.
It has 286 check-in counters and 76 gates, of which 30 are served by 41 loading bridges and the remaining for aircrafts positioned in parking, reachable with shuttle runway buses. Approximately 16% of the surface area open to the public is dedicated to commercial activities (retail and catering, car rental and banking). Malpensa Terminal 2 has 57 check-in counters and 27 gates parked aircraft reachable by runway buses. Approximately 17.8% of the surface area open to the public is devoted to retail activities. Malpensa Cargo has warehouses covering an area of 50,000 m², with a capacity between 700,000 and 750,000 tons of cargo per year. The airport also has a hangar for recovery and maintenance of aircrafts and office space.

1) Source: Assaeroporti (www.assaeroporti.it).