Runway work, Aeroitalia (almost) evicted from Malpensa cancels Rome Fiumicino connection

With the end of Winter 2025-2026, just over a year after its activation, Aeroitalia will close the connection between Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa, Which is currently operating with three daily rotations.

The 'blame' lies with the closure for resurfacing work on one of the Milan airport's two runways, which is causing some flights to be moved to Linate and cancellations or reductions in frequencies by several airlines.

"Assoclearance informed us that on Malpensa-Fiumicino we will have only one slot available: departure in the morning from Milan and return in the evening from Fiumicino. What for us would mean having an aircraft stationary in Rome for about 12 hours. Any operator knows that under these conditions a course becomes untenable" Aeroitalia CEO Gaetano Intrieri explains in a note..

The CEO stresses the importance and results of the route: "This is a link that had been demanded by the Northwest for years, a bridge between the country's two largest airports, with About 100 thousand passengers carried so far. Nevertheless, we find that the route is not considered strategic by those who should have a vision for the airport system and Italian air transport. We take note of this and act accordingly."

Currently, Aeroitalia is operating three daily flights between the two major Italian airports using a 118-seat Embraer 195. "That the route is going well, and that there has been a steady investment on our part, is evidenced by the fact that we have dedicated larger and larger machines to it, responding with an increasing supply of places to sustained demand," continues Intrieri, who recalls that "we had started with the 68-seat ATR 72, then moved to the 88-seat Embraer 175 and finally to the 118-seat Embraer 195".

From SEA, the company that manages the two Milan airports, Aeroitalia asks "to sit down at a table and find a solution that averts the closure of the route. We, for the period of work on the Malpensa runway, are willing to move two of the three rotations to Linate. SEA let us know quickly whether this is a viable route, because clearly, the closer we get to the end of March, the less chance we have of keeping the link up."