Here’s a proposal that certainly counters the general trend we see in Europe when it comes to how regulators view the airline industry…
Milan Linate could get long haul, all-business class flights
There are two airports serving Milan — Linate Airport (LIN) is close to the city center, and is limited to regional flights, and then Malpensa Airport (MXP) is further from the city, and is open to flights globally.
If you want to make a comparison in the United States, think of Washington National (DCA) and Washington Dulles (IAD). Linate Airport has a perimeter rule, so under current regulations, the maximum direct distance allowed for a flight is 1,500 kilometers (around 930 miles).
That brings us to the latest development, which is that Italy’s Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport is considering opening Linate Airport up to long haul flights. There’s one major catch, though — only all-premium planes would be allowed, so these planes couldn’t have economy seats.
What’s the logic for the all-business class requirement? For one, it’s argued that an all-premium layout matches the general customer profile for the airport, which is higher yield, on average. Second, the argument is that given the proximity to the city plus the airport infrastructure, a premium plane would be lighter, make less noise, etc. (since planes with fewer seats are lighter).
Officials are reportedly eyeing direct flights to New York, though it’s not yet known which airline would be interested. The most obvious answer would be La Compagnie, which currently flies between between Malpensa Airport and Newark (EWR). I’m sure La Compagnie would be delighted to instead operate its 76-seat Airbus A321neo out of Linate Airport — talk about a nice competitive advantage!
I’m curious if this concept gets regulatory approval
In general, I’m all for eliminating perimeter rules and opening up more airports to long haul service, so in principle, I like the idea of Linate Airport getting new flights like this.
However, there’s no denying that it’s mighty unusual to see regulators essentially say “hey, you can fly long haul from this airport, but only if there’s no economy cabin.” The optics of that aren’t great — let the rich people fly right out of the city, and everyone else can schlep 30+ miles to Malpensa Airport.
Now, I totally understand how the idea here is that this would be a narrow body plane, and ultimately a high density A321-family aircraft might run into some range issues. However, is there really a problem with a relatively premium layout? For example, JetBlue’s A321LRs “only” have 138 seats, and 24 of those are flat bed business class seats. That seems premium to me!
The other consideration is that if you’re requiring airlines have all-premium layouts, realistically the only all-business class commercial carriers are La Compagnie (which flies A321neos) and Beond (which only flies A319s and A321s, and those don’t have the range to cross the Atlantic, but could make it to somewhere like Dubai).
Aside from that, you’re creating quite the hurdle, as airlines would basically have to reconfigure planes exclusively for this route, which isn’t terribly efficient.
Anyway, I’m curious what comes of this. Why not open up Linate Airport to long haul flights, but allow narrow bodies with a mix of cabins?
Bottom line
Italy’s Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has proposed the concept of Milan Linate Airport getting long haul flights, despite its strict perimeter rule. The proposal comes with a major restriction, though, which is that the plane must be in an all-premium layout, so it couldn’t have economy seats.
While I understand the concept of preferring a narrow body plane with a premium layout, that strikes me as being a bit too extreme. I’m curious to see if this concept moves forward.
What do you make of this Linate Airport long haul flight proposal?
