MARK PILLING LONDON
Following European Commission (EC)approval of Italian proposals over access to Milan's Linate airport,Alitalia and other European carriers are hoping the dispute can now finally be resolved
However, the fifth government decree in the long-running saga remains an uncomfortable compromise for Alitalia, and only gives limited access for other carriers to Linate. The dispute centres on traffic distribution between Linate, which is just a few kilometres from the Milan city centre, and newly built Malpensa, which is some 40km (25 miles) outside the city.
When Malpensa opened in 1998 the original idea was for all flights at constrained Linate to move to the new airport, allowing Alitalia to build an effective northern hub there. However, 12 European airlines took legal action over the transfer, preferring instead to stay at Linate and seek to lure passengers to their own hubs for onward intercontinental flights.
The new decree increases movements at Linate to 18 per hour, with all European Union capitals being allowed at least one return flight per day. In addition, European Union airports with over 40 million passengers a year can have two rotations per day. Daily services to Helsinki, Stockholm, Vienna and Copenhagen, and morning and evening daily Lufthansa rotations to Frankfurt, are being lined up following the decree.
Lufthansa's Brussels-based director of European affairs, Thomas Kropp, hopes the decree will herald an end to the dispute, but says the carrier must now receive the slots to implement it. "I hope the implementation is not as messy as the political debate has been" he says.
Lufthansa aims to have two rotations to Frankfurt in its summer schedule. It is also looking at a daily rotation to Berlin, which was allowed by the decree. Although Kropp believes the Linate issue has not been a "fantastic signal" for European liberalisation, Lufthansa will probably not act to obtain further access to the airport if the decree is implemented swiftly.
Although Alitalia is not commenting officially on the decree, not unsurprisingly the carrier has all along wanted a greater focus on Malpensa. Increased Linate activity has hurt its efforts to develop Malpensa, and increases its cost base as it has duplicated domestic operations to both airports. Other regions also lose out. For example, there are 11 regional Italian airports which are only connected to Malpensa and do not have service to Linate because of the slot restrictions there. "The lamely handled Linate issue seriously detracts from Malpensa becoming a major hub," says one analyst for Alitalia. "It's like working with one hand tied behind its back".
Despite the questions over Malpensa, Alitalia sees the airport as a new and uncongested facility with a large catchment area and the potential to develop.
Its management has major challenges this year. The main goals are to finally succeed in securing a strategic partner, to find ways to expand at its Milan Malpensa and Rome intercontinental hubs, and to continue to hold its own domestically in the face of intense competition. European partners are proving particularly hard to find. The alliance with KLM fell apart last year, and SAirGroup pulled out of talks even prior to its recent management restructure and strategy realignment.
Following the Milan airport decree, the Italian press has speculated that Alitalia chief executive Domenico Cempella was deeply unhappy and would resign. This has been denied by Alitalia and the government.
Source: Airline Business
