Milan is not only the world fashion center, the capital of Lombardy and the big metropolis of Northern Italy. It is also the largest transport hub. It is said that all roads lead to Rome. We will not argue with this statement. Just to clarify: with a change in Milan. Only the seaport is not here - due to the lack of access to the ocean in the city. But the capital of Lombardy can rightly be called the air gate of Italy. The topic of this article will be the airports of Milan. We will try to give an idea of the terminals, advise how to get to the city center. An approximate description of the hubs will allow you to navigate where you need to arrive to land. And transit passengers, based on information about the infrastructure and their neutral zones, can plan the waiting time for a connecting flight.
Airports of Milan
There are only three of them. The oldest airport is Linate, the only one located in the city. Get to it will not be a problem. This hub serves flights in Italy and some European routes to Madrid, Lisbon. It is a small airport. A little more - Milan-Bergamo, serves mainly low-cost airlines. If you fly to Italy with a low-cost, then most likely you will land in it. To be completely honest, this airport is closest to the city of Bergamo, a handsome man proudly towering on the precalpine rocks. But still, it is also considered the Milanese air gate. Well, the largest airport that everyone has heard is Malpensa. This is a giant hub that accepts numerous flights from various points of the globe. Now let's look at them in more detail.
Linate
This airport is officially named after Enrico Forlanini, but everyone calls it Aeroporto di Milano-Linate. As already mentioned, unlike the Malpensa and Bergamo, it is located in Milan, within the city. The hub is one three-story terminal. Although it is open 24 hours a day, it is reminiscent of a bus station in liveliness. During the day you will find many cafes and shops in it, but at night all this trading activity stops. Foreign tourists have a chance to get to Linate only if you arrive from abroad to Malpensa, and then decide to move south of Italy on your own. For the sake of such cases, the Malpensa Shuttle bus runs. It connects the airports of Milan, and enters all the terminals of the main city hub. The shuttle runs at intervals of about one and a half hours, and the travel time is approximately seventy minutes. A ticket is purchased directly from the driver, it costs thirteen euros.
How to get to Linate
Many tourists flying to Italy for the first time have a very healthy question: how far are Milan's airports from the city? How to get from them, for example, to the main train station or the Cathedral of El Duomo? In the case of Linate, you can drop all alarms. The airport is located within the city, connected with the center and the surrounding area by numerous bus routes and a metro line. A regular shuttle will take you from Linate to another hub, the Malpensa.
Orio al Serio
This is the official name for Milan’s second largest airport. Although, to be honest, it belongs to the county of Bergamo. The airport on the map of this city, located actually in the Alps, is listed three kilometers southeast of its central part. Since the status of the hub is slightly lower than that of Malpensa, it asks for less for its services, and therefore is in demand from low-cost airlines. All the well-known European low-cost flights arrive here - Ceman Wings, Easy Jet and others. From here it is convenient to get to the lakes of Northern Italy - Como, Lago Maggiore, Garda, as well as alpine ski resorts and the city of Turin. The well-developed infrastructure of the hub will allow passengers to easily find the necessary services, have a good time waiting for boarding. There are many shops and cafes in the departure halls.
How to get from Orio al Serio to Milan
The easiest way to get from the hub to Bergamo. The airport is located so close to this city that you can get there by city bus. But from Milan they separate as much as fifty-five kilometers. There are two ways to get to the capital of Lombardy - by train or by bus. Opposite the airport exit (arrival hall), there is a bus stop for Bergamo. For less than two euros and 10-15 minutes, this type of public transport will take you to the train station. The only thing to consider is that the buses run from six in the morning until half past one. From Bergamo station very often trains to Milan. Travel time is an hour. A ticket costs about five euros. Another way to get to the Lombard capital, as well as to Turin, the main city of Piedmont, is by bus. They also depart from stops at the exit of Orio al Serio airport. There are several of them, but let it not bother you - several companies carry out transportation. The ticket price is approximately the same for everyone - about ten euros. Just walk around and compare the schedule from where the car leaves faster. Tickets are sold at the box office in the airport building. Buses run from four in the morning until half past eleven.
Malpensa Airport
Previously, these main air gates of Lombardy were called “Busto Arsizio”, after the outskirts of Milan, through which you must pass to get to the terminals. Now the airport is officially called "Malpensa" (Malpensa). This is the largest air terminal in the city. Seven years ago, passenger traffic in it amounted to more than twenty-three million people a year. This is three times more than at the Bergamo airport. Competition "Malpensa" in Italy can only be a Roman hub to them. Leonardo da Vinci. In addition to passengers, this airport also accepts cargo planes for which a special Cargo City terminal has been built. It serves Malpensa and low cost airlines, although not on such a scale as Orio al Serio. The T-2 terminal accepts the aircraft EasyJet and Lufthansa Italia, a subsidiary of a respected German concern ..
Infrastructure "Malpensa"
The largest airport in Milan consists of two terminals. T-1 operates regular passenger flights, while T-2 operates low-cost and charter flights. In Terminal 1, you can even get lost - it is so huge. There are two wings there. "A" is a compartment intended for local routes or flights within the Schengen area. That is, there is no border control. And in wing "B" they register for boarding passengers flying to countries that are not in the Schengen area. All airports in Milan are constantly expanding their capacities, but in “Malpensa” this process is going at the fastest pace. A third runway is under construction, as well as a T-3 terminal.
How not to get lost at Malpensa
Even if you mistakenly got off the train or bus on the wrong terminal, do not panic. Between T-1 and T-2 free shuttles are constantly plying. Usually flights to Moscow and other Russian cities depart from the first terminal, from wing "B". If you arrived in transit to Malpensa (Milan, airport), the schedule in the arrivals hall will inform you where the connecting flight will depart from. In the event that you want to fly to other cities in Italy, you need to go through passport control and arrive to board one of the gates of the T-2 terminal. Each terminal has many shops, cafes and restaurants, bank and post offices, currency exchange offices and car rental offices. Luggage trolleys are available. There is a service for wrapping suitcases and bags with foil.
How to get from Malpensa to Milan
Passengers who arrive at this airport at night do not have to take a taxi. The Malpensa Express train runs from the first terminal (T-1) around the clock. Its final stop is Cadorna Central Station. Therefore, do not jump out unnecessarily, just seeing Milano on the apron. You will drive through the Busto Arzizio, Saronno and Milano Bovisia stations. From the central station, express trains leave for Malpensa Airport every half hour. The map shows that the main air gate of Milan is located 45 km from the city, in the town of Varese. Therefore, the travel time will be about forty minutes. There is an opportunity to get to Milan on another train - the firm "Trenitalia". The train passes near two terminals, collecting passengers. But such a train follows only to the Gallarate station. Shuttles also depart from both terminals. They will take you to the central bus station. A special shuttle runs to Linate. It is possible to leave the Malpensa straight to Turin.