Milan Malpensa Terminal 2 apron

Terminal 2 reopening

On the 31st of May 2023, Malpensa’s airport secondary terminal will be finally reopened to passengers, after having been closed for over three years due to air traffic shrinking caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been threatening the aviation industry for roughly two years.

In June 2020, Milan’s airport management decided to concentrate the whole airlines operating in Malpensa into the larger Terminal 1, which could easily handle the few passengers travelling in that period. Running just one active terminal enabled the airport management company to contain the losses generated by the drop in traffic, minimising the operation costs of the airport.

Terminal 2 departures area

Air traffic recovery

Malpensa’s passenger numbers have been constantly recovering since 2021, the year following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In particular, in 2022, Malpensa airport hosted roughly 21,3 million passengers, a value positioning between 2017 and 2018 passenger volumes. Considering August 2022, which represented the peak period for the airport, Malpensa recorded almost the same number of passengers in 2018 (in that period both Terminals 1 and 2 were active).

Malpensa airport data overview

Nevertheless, SEA Milan Airports (the company handling Milan’s airports) postponed the reopening of Terminal 2, due to the increase in energy costs (linked to the Ukrainian conflict) which could have jeopardised their financial statements. Eventually, thanks to the reduction in energy costs and the traffic projections showing a full recovery to pre-Covid 19 levels in 2023, Malpensa moved forward to reopen Terminal 2 to properly handle the summer passengers’ peak.

Low-cost terminal

Following Alitalia’s de-hubbing in 2008, EasyJet dramatically expanded its operations in Malpensa airport year after year, reaching its peak of traffic in 2019 with 22 aircraft based. To deal with EasyJet’s growth plans, SEA decided to dedicate the whole of Terminal 2 to the British carrier, which became the largest operator of the airport, achieving the milestone of carrying over 7,5 million passengers from and to Milan Malpensa in 2019.

Having become a low-cost terminal, Malpensa’s Terminal 2 does not feature any jetbridge to board the aircraft parked, and it has seen little refurbishment work over the years to minimise the operating costs for EasyJet. Thus, the boarding procedures are performed on foot employing both the front and rear doors of the aircraft, which reduces the boarding time period and allows a low turnaround time.