ITA Airways' Linate-New York? Here's why (today) the direct flight is impossible
In the hours following the announcement of the agreement reached between Lufthansa and Ita Airways, whereby the German group will acquire (once [...]
LIN
United States of America
In the hours following the announcement of theagreement reached between Lufthansa and Ita Airways, under which the German group will acquire (once it gets the green light from the Italian and European authorities) the Italian carrier's 41%, a lot has been written in the newspapers about the future scenarios that the partnership could open wide.
In this article:
One of them, reported in truth by some but not all 'generalist' media outlets, concerned The possibility for ITA Airways to operate, in the near future, between Milan Linate and New York thanks to Airbus A321LRs that the company is expected to start receiving starting next fall-winter.
Flying to the U.S. from Linate
A hypothesis that is indeed very unlikely. Not because the plane in question, even fully loaded, is not capable of 'bypassing' the Atlantic Ocean to the northeastern coast of the United States.
And not because such a connection is not destined to become, immediately, a hit among passengers, both 'leisure' and 'business' passengers (given the fact that ITA's A321LRs will be outfitted in classes, including a Business one complete with lie-flat seats).
The Burlando law and the opposition of the companies
But why, to date, there is a state law preventing such an operative. A law that is unlikely to be changed to allow the new Germanic-driven ITA to fly between Linate and the U.S., as its repeal would disrupt the entire Italian air transport industry.
Passed in 2000 and known as the 'Bersani Decree,' the law was Launched to ensure the then-new 'Malpensa 2000' traffic growth commensurate with the investments made and to prevent, through feederage from Linate to their European hubs, foreign airlines from undermining the success of the hub that Alitalia had started two years earlier at Malpensa.
In fact, the law is already a compromise. Because in 1998, then Transport Minister Claudio Burlando had passed an even more restrictive measure by which Linate would become an airport exclusively for domestic connections. It was then that 11 airlines, including British Airways, Air France, Iberia, and Lufthansa itself, appealed to the European Union asking to be allowed to continue flying from Linate. The European Commissioner for Transport, Neil Kinnock, agreed with them.
The Italian government appealed, but lost. And what came in, provisionally, was the 'one-third rule,' under which carriers operating from Linate would be allowed to keep one-third of their daily frequencies operated in 1998 at 'Forlanini,' transferring all others to Malpensa instead.
Single-aisle aircraft only
Two years later, the issue was then finally regulated by the Bersani Decree, which in March 2000 limited hourly movements to 18, also stipulating that the aircraft allowed at the 'city airport' would only be single-aisle aircraft and that the destinations served could only be within the European Union. The decree meant 'Forlanini's' farewell to the Airbus A300s and A310s operated by, for example, Air France, Iberia, Lufthansa and Olympic, as well as the Boeing 767-300s with which British Airways connected Milan and London Heathrow on some daily frequencies.
It meant, too, the transfer from Linate to Malpensa of a large number of non-European (and very exotic for fans) airlines such as Royal Air Maroc, Tunisair, Egyptair, Lybian Aarab Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Middle East Airlines.
That is why, even today, all these carriers fly exclusively to and from Malpensa. And why the French all-Business company The Compagnie last year started its flights between Milan and New York Newark not from Linate (as it could have, since it uses an Airbus A321LR), but from Malpensa.
Now, it is possible that in deference to the Germans and an agreement described in many respects as historic, the Italian government will decide to rework the Bersani Decree. However, a Linate-New York remains a rather far-fetched hypothesis, not least because it would adversely affect Lufthansa's own feederage from northern Italian airports to its two hubs in Frankfurt and Munich.
The changes for Brexit
At this point it is legitimate to ask why, despite the Brexit that expelled the UK from the EU, London (Heathrow, Gatwick and City) continues to be served by Linate as well with flights operated by British Airways, ITA Airways and easyjet.
The answer lies in a measure of the Brussels Commission published in the Official Gazette in the summer of 2022 that definitively regulated the issue, which had until then been regulated by ad hoc and temporary measures of the Italian government. Ihe regulation authorizes connections to non-EU destinations up to 1,500 kilometers away from Linate. And guess what is the only destination served by the city airport that is within that limit? London.
