European transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio has given the go-ahead for the stepped transfer of services from Milan Linate Airport to the city's new Malpensa hub.
The transfer is to be completed by 15 January, with only Milan-Rome shuttle flights remaining at Linate. The forced move is conditional, however, on the completion of infrastructure work at Malpensa by 15 December.
The European Commission has frozen the complaints of European Union airlines opposed to the transfer of flights, although the file will not close until the conditions have been fulfilled. Fourteen non-EU carriers have also begun legal challenges over their repositioning at Malpensa.
The airlines have in any case won a partial victory, delaying the move to Malpensa by two and a half months. An initial batch of 236 weekly flights - serving London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Madrid - will move to Malpensa on 15 November, to be followed by a second transfer on 15 January, involving 230 weekly services.
The Italian transport ministry, airport operator, SEA, and air traffic control body Enav are meanwhile planning discussions on transforming Linate into a city centre airport.
Source: Flight International
