ITA Airways abandons Malpensa, the NON-official reasons behind the historic decision
The news was in the air and the pen of Il Corriere delal Sera Berberi had spoiled it. Today came the officialdom, [...]
ITA Airways
SkyTeam
MXP
The news was in the air and the pen of Il Corriere delal Sera Berberi had spoiled it. Today came the officialdom, not through a statement or press conference, but more simply the flight was removed from the sales systems.
In this article:
Not only is it not on sale in the period following the Christmas holidays, but it is not scheduled to resume even with the start of the summer season or even in the warmer months, the months that bring tens of thousands of Italians on vacation.
This means that from Malpensa to New York there will be one less operator and only one Italian carrier will remain, namely Neos, which will double this year flying to the Big Apple even from Palermo.
From the company tight-lipped, we would miss in a situation like this to put out a press release with a comma in the wrong place. Also affecting the fact that the territory was psychologically prepared for this news and remains all but orphaned on this important route.
One HUB to stay in financial balance
Consistent with the industrial strategy outlined in the multi-year development plan, as well as under the hub & spoke business model adopted, ITA Airways has taken Rome Fiumicino airport as the base of its operations. It is therefore evident how the adoption of a second hub, in the case in interest, at the airport of Milan Malpensa, would undermine the economic and operational sustainability of the company, also taking into account that the company has identified Milan Linate airport as its reference airport for business traffic.
Too much competition and too many low cost
Also driving the decision was the combined: competition and low-cost. Since its debut in the skies ITA has declared war on the low-cost model and incentive policies put in place by airports and territories, and Malpensa has plenty of traffic of this nature, With the terminal 2 home of Easyjet. However, virtually everyone from Ryanair to all the other airlines fly here, moving millions of Italian passengers, and they have developed a relevant network of domestic and international connections here.
The airport is currently served by legacy international airlines, which operate out of Milan Malpensa Airport, even with fifth freedom rights, starting By Emirates on the Milan Malpensa - New York JFK route., exerting strong competitive pressure on the local market. Specifically, 36 weekly frequencies are operated by other companies equal to about 1,300 seats per day per direction.
The only loss-making long-haul route
MXP-JFK would be the only loss-making long-haul route in the ITA network, the one with the much lower average load factor than the rest of the intercontinental network. The reason is easy to understand flies us in the worst plane, has no filling flights from Italy or Europe, as all other flights arrive at Linate, and for those arriving from the U.S. it does not offer the option of taking a connection to Rome, Venice or Palermo.
Of course this is also ITA's "fault" since, for example, British Airways makes you land at Gatwick and depart from Heathrow, as well as other carriers sell you connections that involve changing airports (at the traveler's expense) just think of those who have to go from Haneda to Narita in Tokyo.
Is this a final farewell?
Over the past months and weeks, I have talked to several people about the issue, both inside and outside the company. The future will surely depend on the marriage with Lufthansa and by what the new reference partner decides to do. At Malpensa, LH also has its only lounge in Italy. According to people close to the company, the door remains open to a return, but certainly not in the current scenario of an airport where much of the traffic is low-cost and where competition on MI-NY sees 6 other carriers.
In conclusion
Today is farewell, but it could be goodbye. Lufthansa operates two hubs, one in Munich and one in Frankfurt, but it is certain that with Linate nearby, hyper-connected, and 10 minutes from the Duomo, it will be difficult to imagine seeing an ITA passenger plane take off from the province of Varese again.
