[Rassegna stampa] September 30 will be a historic day for the airports of Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa and above all for Alitalia: that day the last flight connecting the two Italian airports will be operated. This is not the first stop to connections but in this case the crisis generated by Covid and the situation in which Alitalia finds itself could lead to a definitive cancellation of the route.
Flight AZ01023, on September 30th, is perhaps destined to make history. It will sanction the end of Alitalia’s connections from Milan Malpensa to Rome Fiumicino. Game over, farewell to travel between the Lombard intercontinental airport and the capital. It is not the first time that the airline has retreated from Malpensa, which was also transformed into a hub of international rank in 1998 precisely to relaunch it. Also in January 2017, Malpensa-Fiumicino was canceled and returned to operation only sixteen months later, in April 2018 with four daily connections (first boarding from Milan at 6.45 and last from the capital at 21.40). Today, however, the picture is darker and more uncertain because Alitalia – due to Covid-19 – has already stopped flights to Tokyo and New York. Also blocking the two day trips for Fiumicino means abandoning Malpensa entirely after about 70 years. The point, on the other hand, is exactly that. Before the coronavirus, passengers arriving from Tokyo and New York at Malpensa continued to Rome always on board Alitalia carriers, with great advantages in fares and baggage transfer. Since Tokyo and New York are no longer there, Malpensa-Rome and the same Rome-Malpensa were traveling almost empty, thanks to the fear of contagion. In the end, the ribbon of history rewinds with the connections between Milan and Rome – 7 daily flights – all managed by Linate. From 16 September, speaking of Covid-19, two flights from Fiumicino to Linate will carry only negative passengers. They will need to pass the rapid antigen test before embarking or submit certification of a swab (molecular or antigenic) done within the previous 72 hours. Experimentation is underway. Meanwhile, Alitalia’s disengagement from Malpensa does not go down to the Lombardy regional council. Here is Claudia Maria Terzi, Councilor for Transport: «I welcome the news with regret. The so-called national airline chooses to cancel the connections between the capital and the main airport of Lombardy and Northern Italy. A bad move that does not reconcile with the huge state aid, also paid for by the taxes of the Lombards, which the company has been collecting for years. I hope for an afterthought ». […]
Aldo Fontanarosa, The Republic
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