The full guide to Milano Linate Airport. (Milan Linate Airport (LIN))

Member Name: aex12

Product:	Milan Linate Airport (LIN)
Date:	27/11/02 (1812 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Near city center., Not too big., Quite organised.

Disadvantages: Apparently terminal in dangerous position.

Milano Linate Airport is owned and operated by SEA-Aeroporti di Milano (like Malpensa): www.sea-aeroportimilano.it

It has recently been part of a big debate whether all flights should have been brought to Malpensa or not. Alitalia claims that without taking more flights off Linate it cannot create its own Malpensa hub, but at the same time the remaining European competitors claim that by shutting down or taking many flights off Linate, they'd lose a lot of market as well. The debate is still open because after the SAS accident, ENAC (Ente Nazionale Aviazione Civile), Italy's Civil Aviation Authority said that the terminal is in a dangerous position and that flights should be decreased. So now the debate has been reopened and it is apparently a quite long one too.

The airport is in a very favorable positions, it is only 7 km from the city centre. The problem is that the transport links are actually better if you need to go to Malpensa, you won't believe this but there is no rail or at least underground link. The only way to get to Linate or from Linate with public transport is take the quite frequent ATM (Milan transport authority) 73 service. The ticket costs 1 Euro, the bus leaves every 10 minutes and in 25 minutes you will get in the heart of Milan. The tickets are NOT sold on the bus but in the Newstands.

If you have a lot of luggage it would be better taking the STAM (Societa' Trasporti Aeroporti Milanesi) bus to Stazione Centrale FS that leaves every half an hour. The ticket costs about 3 Euros and the bus has a lot of luggage space and has a short stop in Stazione Lambrate FS.

In any case the best way to get to the city is by taxi, which you will all ranked outside. They are not as expensive as in the UK.

You will see that Linate has got only one terminal which is quite organised. If you come from UK, wheter with Alitalia, BA, BMI or GO, your plane will be parked quite far from the terminal and a coo
l SEA bus will bring you to the passport control. I find these buses cool because they are big and have a driving seat on both sides. Passport control is usually quite fast and afterwards you will be waiting for your luggage.

On the walls you will have the airlines served by the two handling agents. SEA-Aeroporti di Milano Handling serves all airlines except GO, KLM, Gandalf Airlines and Meridiana which are served by ATA Handling. Air One is served by SEA-Aeroporti di Milano Handling but uses its own staff for luggage tracing, check-in and boarding. In any case you should not worry because (like in Malpensa) thanks to the low number of handling agents the situation is still under control. If the handling agents will increase a messed up situation will come out.

If you need to leave from Linate the suggested check-in time is at least one hour prior to departure. The check-in will be done by SEA-Aeroporti di Milano Handling for all airlines apart Lufthansa, Air Dolomiti, Lauda Air, Austrian Airlines who use Globeground Milano for passenger assistance. However Globeground Milano does not provide ramp services yet so all the remaining services will be provide by SEA-Aeroporti di Milano Handling. As mentioned before GO, KLM, BUZZ, Gandalf Airlines and Meridiana use ATA Handling for ALL services apart bringing passengers to the plane, service operated by SEA. Air One has its own personnel for passenger assistance but uses SEA for remaining services. British Airways has usually got its own staff as well for check-in and boarding. Air Littoral uses Air One for passenger assistance.

Please do not take your time, it is suggested to do the security checks because sometimes there are long queues. After the security check there will be the passport control and a small boarding area reserved to London flights. If you want to do some last minute shopping it should be done prior to passport control because no shops are after that.

In conclusion
Linate Airport is a very organised airport, it has an unclear future but is at the moment able to cope with the flights. SEA might put landing fees up and so ticket prices up in the near future because it is considered that city airports should be more expensive, so it is not impossible that low cost airlines will stop landing here.
In the next 5 years we will see what decision will be taken for Linate.

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