Brussels, 15/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - The "Maplensa" saga showing for four years should in principal end, on Thursday 21 December, with a decision by the European Commission that will approve the Italian decree allocating the flights between the Milan airports of Malpensa and Linate.
Gathered this Friday in Brussels within the advisory committee, the Member States in fact gave there go ahead for the Commission to approve the Italian decree under certain conditions. Italy should modify its decree according to the three principals, that it defined itself in a letter sent to the Commission on 4 December: 1) each EU capital will have the right to one return flight per day from Linate, 2) the major airports with a traffic above 40 million passengers per day, would have the right to two return flights per day, 3) the location of the Milan airports will be examined at the end of 2001. The Commission should also follow attentively the enforcement of the European regulation on the allocation of landing and take-off slots in Linate and Malpensa.
On this basis, the frequency of flights to Linate rises from 13 to 18 flights per hour. The Commission decision will put an end to several years of conflicts between the Italian authorities, the Commission and the European airlines. Last episode to date: twelve European airlines, Lufthansa as the frontrunner, had registered complaints in March 2000 with the Commission, protesting against the Italian decree of 14 March 2000 allocating the flights between the two airports (fourth decree on the issue since 1996). The airlines felt the key for the allocation of flights was discriminatory, since it allowed Alitalia to land more flights in Linate, airport located at 20 km from Milan, while the other European airlines had to transfer to Malpensa, 50 km from Milan. The Commission decision next week should close the procedure. Some Member States have put forward, on Friday, to the advisory committee, their concerns over the undertakings made by Italy, but have accepted in fine not to have reticence and to accept the draft decision from the European executive.