Europe rejects the Lupi Decree, putting the airport system in Lombardy at risk

The European Union has rejected the Lupi decree, which, last year, regulated the airport system in Milan, involving the airports of Malpensa, Linate and Orio al Serio.

The decision, which was signed on 17 December, but only announced to the Italian government a few hours ago, is in danger of having serious consequences on the airports mentioned above, especially Malpensa. Essentially, the EU has accused the Italian authorities of not taking all of the necessary steps, and of “not consulting with all of the interested parties, before amending the regulations on distributing traffic in Milan’s airport system.” The measures contained in the decree have been rejected on the basis of the protests and complaints of a number of airline companies, especially German companies, who had strongly contested the entire formulation of the decree signed by the then Transport Minister, Maurizio Lupi, who subsequently resigned as a result of other, “family” problems.

This blow could have serious consequences on Malpensa, but also on Linate and Orio al Serio. The Lupi decree, which was passed to facilitate the agreement between Alitalia and Etihad, entailed the liberalisation of traffic from Linate, making it possible to fly also to European cities that were not capitals; this decision had essentially been taken to favour Air Berlin (a subsidiary of Etihad, the new partner of Alitalia, who moved Frankfurt and Stuttgart flights to Linate immediately after the Lupi Decree had been approved) which made it possible to increase traffic at Linate, while Malpensa essentially remained unchanged.

Now, it is the turn of the current Transport Minister, Graziano Delrio, who is already working to find a solution. Possible solutions include returning to pre-2014 times, when the flights from Linate were only allowed to go to Italian destinations, European capitals and airports that had a capacity of more than 40 million passengers, and increasing the movements to and from Linate, a decision that would considerably penalise Malpensa, as would the idea of opening up to non-European destinations from Linate. There remains the chronic lack of an Italian and Lombard airport system that can become a shared reference point.