Milan Malpensa Airport is the second-largest airport in Italy, after Rome Fiumicino Airport. The airport opened in 1948 after been an aircraft testing site since 1910 and a military airfield in WW II.
Originally there were two international airports serving Milan: Malpensa and Linate Airport which was much closer to the center and therefor more popular. Due to growth restrictions at Linate Airport it was decided in 1985 to move all international flights to Malpensa and leave Linate with domestic and some short-haul international flights only. To accommodate all the extra traffic a new terminal was build and the road and train connections to central Milan greatly improved.
The financial crisis has hit Malpensa hard and passenger numbers dropped by 30% in just a few years. The airport invested a lot of time and money in luring new airlines to the airport and to have existing airlines add new destinations. The airport is growing again, also helped by te decision of easyJet to make Malpensa its second-largest base after Gatwick and station 21 of their Airbus A319 here.
Most flights from Milan Malpensa Airport are to Amsterdam and to Athens but there are many more flights to other destinations as well, most of them by easyJet. Every day there are flights to 19 destinations from Milan Malpensa Airport. Here are the most popular destinations:
The airport has two terminals with Terminal 2 being the older one and is only used by budget / low-cost airlines like EasyJet. All other flights depart from the new and modern Terminal 1. The terminals are connected by free shuttle buses.
Milan Malpensa Airport is located 50 km northwest of downtown Milan.
At the Train station at Terminal 1 and, since december 2016, Terminal 2 as well, you can catch one of the two express trains into the city. One-way fare is 13 euro. Several trains depart per hour and it takes about 30 to 45 minutes, depending the type of train (non-stop or not) and your destination. There are two different lines: between Malpensa Airport and Milano Cadorna, and between Malpensa and Milano Centrale. The first one, to Milano Cadorna, is the easiest and quickest way to get into the city center.
Express buses leave for Centrale Station and the domestic Linate airport every 20 minutes and cost around 13 euro. Travel time to the city is about an hour.
See for tickets and schedule: trains: malpensaexpress.it buses: terravision.eu .
Taxis depart outside each terminal and operate with a fixed fare policy: a taxi into the city will cost 90 euro.
All prices quoted here were found in July 2017