Milan Malpensa International Airport

Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) is Italy's second-busiest airport after FCO and the principal long-haul gateway for Lombardy, Piedmont, Liguria, and southern Switzerland — a catchment of over 20 million people and the densest concentration of industrial output on the European continent. Located 49 km (30 mi) northwest of central Milan in the Ticino valley municipality of Ferno at 768 ft (234 m) elevation, the airport handled 28.5M passengers in 2024, a post-pandemic record, and retains its position as the largest cargo airport in Italy by tonnage. MXP operates two parallel runways (35L/17R and 35R/17L, both 12,861 ft) capable of simultaneous independent parallel approaches, the only such configuration in Italy. The two-terminal layout — T1 for full-service and international carriers, T2 for EasyJet's third-largest European base — handled together more than 350 destinations in 2024. The closure of Alitalia and emergence of ITA Airways shifted long-haul balance toward FCO, but Emirates, Cathay Pacific, United, Delta, ANA, Air China, Turkish, and Qatar all operate MXP widebody services, and the airport serves as a principal Atlantic and Asian gateway for Swiss-border cantons. MXP is unusual among major European airports in its cargo orientation. Terminal Cargo Malpensa handles more than 740,000 tonnes annually and hosts dedicated operations by FedEx, DHL, and Poste Italiane. The 2023 opening of the new cargo satellite doubled hardstand capacity, supporting Italy's fashion, pharmaceutical, and machinery export economies. A GBP 1 billion expansion to T1 — a new satellite concourse scheduled for 2028 — will restore the airport to the 40M+ capacity envelope it was originally designed to deliver.