Brussels, 20/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - Italy applied, on Thursday, the transfer of flights between the Milanese airports of Linate and Malpensa, despite doubts expressed on Wednesday by the European Commission on the compatibility of the transfer arrangements with European law (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.8). The transfer of 67 flights from Linate to Malpensa was carried out without major mishap. The passengers were transported from one airport to the next while aircraft waited, which caused delays of 90 to 120 minutes, states the Italian press agency, Ansa. The German company Lufthansa and Belgian company Sabena had, however, refused the transfer. In order to avoid one of their flights being attributed to Linate and the other two to Malpensa, Sabena transferred all three of its flights to the third regional airport, Bergamo, states Ansa.
In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Italian Transport Minister Pierluigi Bersani considers Italy could not postpone transfer again at the last minute, as it had done on 26 March under pressure from the Commission. This is all the truer as, according to the minister, the letter from Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio, which was forwarded to him on Wednesday, does not contain "any reference to referral or eventual infringement procedure".
Commission Aviation Director Michel Ayral had on Wednesday described three grievances defined after a first inquiry in the context of the complaint filed by 12 air companies against the transfer arrangements. The main argument put forward by the European Executive concerns placing the airports in Milan into the category of "fully coordinated airports" because of congestion, without airline companies having been really consulted.
The sharing of flights between Linate and Malpensa is aimed at transforming Malpensa into an international flight hub with a larger number of daily movements and due to the nature of its connections.