Malpensa International Airport

About Malpensa International Airport

Milan Malpensa Airport is an international airport in Ferno, in the Province of Varese, Lombardy, Italy. It is the largest airport in northern Italy, serving Lombardy, Piedmont, and Liguria, as well as the Swiss canton of Ticino. It is located 49 kilometres (30 mi) northwest of Milan, next to the Ticino river dividing Lombardy and Piedmont. The airport is located inside the Parco Naturale Lombardo Della Valle Del Ticino, a nature reserve included by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves. The airport was opened in 1909 by Giovanni Agusta and Gianni Caproni to test their aircraft prototypes, before switching to civil operation in 1948. Source: "Milan Malpensa Airport" by Wikipedia contributors (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Malpensa_Airport), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Edit history on the linked Wikipedia page.

Overview

Malpensa International Airport is the main commercial airport for Milano, Italy. Its IATA code is MXP and its ICAO code is LIMC. The clocks here run on Europe/Rome, the runway sits roughly 750 ft above sea level, and the airport is a large international gateway, with around 194 scheduled departure pairs in the public OpenFlights schedule plus onward connections through partner airlines.

Terminals and concourses

Most travellers will pass through one of a handful of terminal areas at Malpensa International Airport. Bigger fields tend to split domestic and international traffic into separate halls, each with its own arrivals area, immigration counters, customs and a landside check-in concourse. Signage is bilingual wherever the local language and English share the airport, and walking between terminals at Milano's main gateway is usually possible on foot. Where the aprons stretch more than a kilometre, a shuttle bus or an automated people mover takes over.

Lounges and amenities

Lounge options at Malpensa International Airport match what you would expect from a large international gateway. There is normally at least one airline-run lounge for premium-cabin passengers and elite-status flyers, plus an independent or contract lounge that sells day passes and accepts programmes like Priority Pass, DragonPass, Plaza Premium and LoungeKey. Inside, you can usually count on hot food, espresso, charging at every seat, decent Wi-Fi, and showers at the busier terminals. Quiet zones, prayer rooms and family areas tend to sit landside near check-in.

Getting to and from the airport

Getting between Malpensa International Airport and central Milano is straightforward. Licensed taxis queue at marked curbs outside arrivals, with metered or zoned fares posted at the rank. Ride-hail apps have a designated pickup point, often one level up at departures or in a nearby lot. Public transport varies by city. A primary gateway like this one almost always offers an express train, a metro line or a dedicated airport bus running from before the first wave of departures until after the last arrival. Long-stay parking, rental car desks and hotel shuttle stops are clustered together on the landside.

Tips for travellers

A few things worth knowing for Malpensa International Airport. Aim to arrive at least two hours before a domestic flight and three hours before an international one, especially during peak banks. Local time is Europe/Rome, so plan your transfers around the time difference if you are coming in from another zone. Save a screenshot of your boarding pass before you leave the house, since terminal Wi-Fi is hit and miss when it gets busy. If you are connecting on a partner airline, check whether your bag is tagged through to the final destination, because Malpensa International Airport handles a mix of in-terminal and inter-terminal connections. With 192 direct destinations on the public schedule, this is a useful node for both point-to-point trips and onward connections across Italy and the wider region.

More guides for MXP

Four extra pages dig deeper into lounges, layovers, getting to and from the airport, and the terminal layout itself. Open whichever one matches the problem in front of you.

Direct destinations from MXP

These are the cities you can fly to nonstop from Malpensa International Airport, based on the published schedule. Tap any one to open its own terminal, lounge and route guide.