Here’s a proposal that certainly counters the general trend we see in Europe when it comes to how regulators view the airline industry…
In this post:
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?
I hope they never do that. I'm from Milan and yes, Linate is much closer to my house but I really prefer Malpensa for international flights. Linate is the main cause of Malpensa's failure as a hub and should be closed. Rome Fiumicino sucks too!
I hope they never do that. I'm from Milan and yes, Linate is much closer to my house but I really prefer Malpensa for international flights. Linate is the main cause of Malpensa's failure as a hub and should be closed.
It should be noted that the 1500 km restriction only applies to flights to third countries. Domestic EU flights are not affected so if there was enough demand, destinations like RUN, PTP, FDF or CAY would be perfectly legal as things are :)
The source says they're wanting 'velivoli in configurazione business da compagnie legacy', which would rule out both premium economy and the likes of La Compagnie/Beond .
One thing to remember is that European J is just "blocked middle seat", so I'd be curious as to the definition here...
That applies for short haul only which is not restricted....not long haul.
One thing to remember is that European J is just "blocked middle seat", so I'd be curious as to the definition here...
What are the exceptions to the 1500km perimeter rule? Because best I can tell, you can fly as far south as Tenerife (≈3000km) and as far north as Stockholm (≈1700km) from Linate... And that easyJet flight down to TFS is anything but premium lol.
EU destinations are exempted from the 1500 km rule.
@Ben The commercial airports serving Milan are three, not two: Linate LIN, Malpensa MXP and Orio BGY (which is part of the Milan' Airport system despite being close to the city of Bergamo, and it's Ryanair biggest base in continental Europe)
BGY is as much Milan as LTN is London...
If you lived in London you’d know that Luton airport very much is accessible (30min train) from central London, more convenient from many locations than Heathrow is.
the biggest factor is that LIN's runway is only 8000 feet long which is too short for even the highest performance TATL capable aircraft - the most generously powered 767-300ERs.
The 321NEO with less than 100 seats can probably do a 4000 mile flight.
763? Who’s even still flying those ole tin cans? Oh… *facepalm*
actually, United now has a larger 767-300ER fleet than DL and they are about the same age.
DL has more 764s and thus more total 767s but both DL and UA remain large 767 operators with more than 50 copies.
the 763 perhaps in UA's high J configuration could perhaps operate from LIN to EWR. They are some of UA's newest 763s (still 26 years old) and have the "big" engines.
Just because United also does it, doesn't make it good (or bad), but in tis case, at least United upgraded their interiors to the new-is Polaris... Took one in last six months EWR-RAK. Not bad.
We have had this discussion before but for a refresher...
UA made the decion years ago to "dumb down" Polaris to be a leading product on the 767 at the expense of a suite product which DL has had on the 339 and 359s for almost a decade.
DL, like most global airlines, does not prioritize commonality at the expense of class leading.
UA is just now getting around to putting a suite product...
We have had this discussion before but for a refresher...
UA made the decion years ago to "dumb down" Polaris to be a leading product on the 767 at the expense of a suite product which DL has had on the 339 and 359s for almost a decade.
DL, like most global airlines, does not prioritize commonality at the expense of class leading.
UA is just now getting around to putting a suite product with doors on its 787s while most other global carriers including DL have had it for years on some of their aircraft.
and DL serves RAK w/ the 764 which is not the same product as the 763.
the point of this discussion is that the 763 could potentially takeoff from LIN to the US and the UA high J configuration including premium economy and extra legroom economy puts it over 100 seats if UA can convince Italy to include all except regular economy seats
but then their XLR could be considered in the same way - just not sell standard economy seats
That 8,000ft is good to take the B777, A380 and B747 for 8-9hrs flights, which is TATL capable (NYC, BOS).
You should know that most of this 8hrs flight will barely be at 60% of MTOW therefore requiring shorter runways.
LaGuardia has 7,000ft runways and I am very sure B767, L1011 and possibly DC10 took of from there for the 6hrs+ flight to LAX and SFO.
the terminal facilities probably do not support large widebodies even if the aircraft itself could get off the runway.
LIN's terminals might not be able to support ANY widebodies or they might choose to not allow them.
Buenos Aires domestic airport is similar and they are allowing 332s to the US.
DL has the 332 and could do the same thing if AA and UA and maybe even B6 manage to succeed with the 321NEO by calling some economy seats as Euro business
No problem, all the XLR will have middle seats blocked and will be sold as business class with the flat bed seats sold as first class.
Congrats on your ‘elevated’ OMAAT “Gold” status, sir! (What benefits do you get?)
Living in LA, I choose Linate as there are no Milan-LAX nonstops so I use an intra-Europe flight to connect to a European gateway that has LAX nonstops. This development seems to only benefit those who's ex-Linate flight arrives at their final destination (which won't be LAX).
Makes sense, the only time I'm flown into Linate was on a Citation X from Luton.
It's so much more convenient but it's a very small airport.
So, if this option becomes a reality it is for people like Ben and Ford who can easily afford it ^^
Airport passenger capacity (security, waiting areas etc) could be a factor also
Just a thought, but perhaps it is actually in line with EU "go green" thinking... Since most private flights go into Linate, they could be looking to reduce the number of private jets in hopes those people book a business class seat instead if there is direct service and it's so much nicer than Malpensa in terms of logistics.
Quick! To the green-wash-mobile! How ‘sustainable’ and ‘bespoke’ of them. ‘Curated’ even! *buzz buzz buzzword*
I wonder if an all premium economy + business configuration would be sufficiently premium.
Works for SQ21,22,23,24 on a359ULR.
(I know, not TATL or narrowbody.)
Some airline should sell 6 across 31" pitch Euro business class, 2 across lie flat super business class, if this is allowed.
They should throw in a few first class seats along with those business class chairs.
Finally , the seats look normal and comfortable .
With the sheer volume of biz class seats going between US northeast and MXP, a small “boutique” carrier like La Compagnie isn’t going to be able to charge J fares high enough to be available to only “rich people” and going into LIN vs mxp isn’t going to be that much of a value add. It’s actually way worse for those headed to the lakes.
Presumably they would move their MXP flight (which is doing well) to LIN.
Right, but what I'm saying is even if that's what happens, they're still not going to be able to charge substantially higher fares for the value-add of flying into LIN when there are so many J seats already flying between the US northeast and MXP. You've already got Delta, Emirates, AA, UA, B6, and Neos dumping capacity into the area on these routes.
Flying into LIN will be a product differentiator vs the others,...
Right, but what I'm saying is even if that's what happens, they're still not going to be able to charge substantially higher fares for the value-add of flying into LIN when there are so many J seats already flying between the US northeast and MXP. You've already got Delta, Emirates, AA, UA, B6, and Neos dumping capacity into the area on these routes.
Flying into LIN will be a product differentiator vs the others, for sure, and may help ensure they fill their a321, but I doubt they'll be able to command much, if any, of a fare premium vs the competition flying to MXP.
La Compagnie is excellent, and they already fly EWR-MXP/NCE/ORY. I wish we had more reasonably-priced all-lie-flat airlines/aircraft. Sure, it’s not ‘cheap,’ but they do often undercut the legacy carriers on TATL.
Agree....you do have to be ready to deal with delays and/or cancellations and the dreaded refuel stop in Paris, but overall I really like them when you get a good deal.
MXP has gotten so overcrowded...moving any flights out of there would benefit everyone and certainly would make La Compagnie's Milan service even better.