From The Floor: Milan Sees Asia Potential

The rebuild of Milan Malpensa Airport’s (MXP) Asia route map is continuing, with three new Chinese services inaugurated or announced over the last 12 months.

Air China began flying to the Italian city from Wenzhou last November, while Hainan Airlines added a 3X-weekly service from Shenzhen in September 2023. From Oct. 30, Juneyao Air also plans to commence 2X-weekly flights from Zhengzhou.

Andrea Tucci, VP of aviation business development at SEA Milan Airports, the operator of MXP and Milan Linate (LIN), said the group is targeting service to further Asian destinations, particularly in Southeast Asia, where demand will be further stimulated by a direct connectivity.

However, he concedes that the return of flights to and from Japan will take time given the Russia overflight situation. But Tucci added: “We are positive that once the restrictions lifted, traffic will sprout again.”

MXP’s latest traffic figures show that 2.7 million passengers were handled in August, representing a year-on-year rise of 14.8%, while LIN reported a 9% rise to 744,069 passengers.

Tucci said SEA Milan’s presence in Istanbul would offer a great opportunity to meet airlines and tourism boards, as well as establish new contacts and jumpstart new projects.

“Meeting up with stakeholders with several different backgrounds represents an opportunity to exchange points of view and trends about the ‘new normal’ post-COVID scenario, which turned out to be more fluid than expected.

“Routes World represents an occasion to further growing existing relationships as our portfolio value depends on the number of destinations and airlines we can offer.”