Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) Flights & Flight Status

Fittingly for one of the world’s fashion capitals, Milan’s main airport is an ode to Italian design and architecture. It’s a bright, modern airport yet has a distinctly retro look and feel. While it can feel chaotic and huge, it’s well laid out and packed with facilities.

Second only to Rome-Fiumicino in passenger numbers, Malpensa served around 26 million passengers in 2023. Alongside many domestic routes, it flies passengers directly to 205 destinations across 81 countries, making it one of Europe’s best connected airports.

Travelling to and from Milan and the Italian Lakes

Malpensa is around 30 miles from Milan city centre, but is well connected enough for that not to be an inconvenience. It’s well served by public transport and has easy road links if you’re hiring a car to hit Lombardy, the Dolomites and Italian Lakes (and why wouldn’t you?). Airport taxis operate at a fixed price, so don’t accept metered fares lest you get heavily ripped off.

Unless you’ve hit the Milan shops hard and are burdened by luggage, the train is the easiest commute. Convenient and reliable, the Malpensa Express rail service gets you into Milan city centre in 40 to 50 minutes. Along the way it stops at stations in Cadorna, Centrale, Porta Garibaldi and Bovisa, handy for catching onward connections to the big cities beyond Milan. Trains depart regularly and often from the airport railway station by Terminal 1.

There are also buses to Milan’s central station running every 20 minutes or so. The four operators – Terravision, Malpensa Bus Express (Autostradale), Malpensa Shuttle (Air Pullman) and Caronte – offer much the same service. Prices and times are comparable to the train. Long-distance coach operators also connect to tourist hotspots like Turin, Genoa and the Italian Lakes.

If you’re heading into Lombardy, the Lakes or Dolomites just beyond, you need a hire car to see them properly. You’ll find car hire desks in both terminals but Terminal 1 has the better choice. I usually go with Drivalia as I find them the best balance between cost and service. Avoid Goldcar, which has a shocking reputation.

Navigating the airport

The main airport of northern Italy, Malpensa is home to two terminals operating a dizzying array of domestic, short-haul and long-haul flights. Terminal 1 on the airport’s western side is the newer and far larger of the two, home to all long-haul international flights and almost all its operating airlines. The smaller, original terminal has been demoted to Terminal 2 status and is now occupied solely by low-cost operator, easyJet.

The terminals are separated by a runway, so you’ll need to take the free 10-minute shuttle bus should you need to travel between them. Follow signs for ‘Terminal Shuttle’ or ‘Navetta’ and not Malpensa Express. I’ve seen confused connecting passengers unwittingly on the train to Milan centre more than once, having followed the wrong signs. The shuttle promises to run every 20 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes between 1:30 am and 3:30 am.

The truth is not always so. Timetables are erratic and often ignored, with shuttles often full meaning another long wait for the next. The natural stress this induces as the threat of missed connections grows can lead to frayed tempers. If you’re travelling at peak season, give yourself an hour for the connection, just in case. If the worst comes to the worst, you can also take a taxi to the other terminal. The times I’ve done so, I’ve shared it with other passengers also waiting for the shuttle to bring the cost down.

Check in, bag drop and security

Although Malpensa is huge and, compared to the biggest airports, relatively light on passenger numbers, it inevitably still has queues. Allow an hour if you’re dropping bags and checking in at the airport, especially during peak season, as check-in desks can be understaffed.

Security at Malpensa also has a reputation for being slow and a little chaotic. I’ve certainly experienced the full gamut of experiences, from walking straight through to waiting more than an hour. Things are improving though. T1 security has now installed smart scanners, meaning laptops and liquids can stay in bags, which speeds things up dramatically. Note that the EU has (hopefully temporarily) reinstalled the 100ml limit on liquids in cabin baggage.

Another choke point is passport control to Non-Schengen destinations like the US, where queues can be long. Don’t get caught out here, as these checks come after security closer to the gates and are easy to forget about when gorging on good coffee and cake.

Getting around Terminal 1

It’s nigh-on impossible to go to the wrong terminal. If you’re flying with anyone other than easyJet, you want Terminal 1. British Airways, Ryanair, Vueling and Alitalia fly to the UK, although many others like Emirates and ITA also fly direct.

There are usually around 15 different direct routes connecting Malpensa to the UK, particularly to London, Manchester and Birmingham. Otherwise, as with most European airports nowadays, the major airlines in terms of passenger numbers and routes are all budget, short-haul carriers.

Gates A24-A30, A50-A61 and B26-B3 are on the ground floor in the main terminal. On the first floor are three satellites – A, B1 and B2 – that house the gates away from the main shopping and eating areas. Satellite A gates A1-A11 serve domestic and Schengen destinations. Satellite B1 gates A71-A80 and B71-B80 serve Non-Schengen and some long haul destinations. Satellite B2 gates B50-B59 also serve long-haul destinations.

T1 shopping, drinking and dining

The T1 main building is consumer central. It’s a massive, lavish combination of three plazas, or ‘piazze’, packed with more than 100 shops, cafés, bars and restaurants. You’ll find high fashion and high prices in the Piazza del Lusso, a reinterpretation of the famed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele mall in Milan. There’s a strong Italian slant with everything from Giorgio Armani’s first airport outlet to lovely leather accessories at Coccinelle.

My budget leans more towards Piazza del Pop, home to up-and-coming Italian designers and brands. The chocolates at Venchi are outrageous. Although there’s food and drink dotted throughout, the focus is at Piazza del Gusto where you can find authentic, top quality Italian food. My longtime favourite and now obligatory stopoff is the wonderful Ferrari Spazio Bollicine.

If you’ve gone wild in the stores of Milan and are flying out of the EU, you can claim back your VAT payments before you leave. There are eight VAT refund desks in T1 – just remember to keep your receipts.

Getting around Terminal 2

Terminal 2 is tiny in comparison to T1, and thus much easier to navigate. With easyJet the sole airline, the quality and number of facilities are more focused on the budget airline market. As such, you should be in no rush to pass through security to get airside.

When you do, gates are spread over two levels. On the first floor are gates D7-D15. On the ground floor, past the Dufry duty free, are gates D1-D5. Walk down the corridor and you’ll then find all E gates before hitting the final batch of D gates, from D18-D22 at the end. I’ve never been able to fathom this layout, but there aren’t enough gates to get lost.

T2 shopping, drinking and dining

Although the shopping and dining options aren’t comparable to T1, you’ll still find better food than in most airports in Europe. This is Italy, after all. Of the handful of restaurants, ground floor Stortellini whips up lovely fresh pasta dishes. Its neighbour, Pizza Flor bakes a mean pizza complete with edible flowers, if that’s your thing. Alongside duty free, there are a handful of shops, cafés and patisseries.

Lounges

T1 has a bounty of excellent lounges, although with so many shops and restaurants in the main terminal you’d be forgiven for bypassing them completely. Leading the pack are the dedicated Lufthansa and Emirates lounges, the latter probably the most luxurious in the airport – and most exclusive to enter. There are several lounges with standing invitations to First, Business and Premium Class passengers but that you can also buy access to with Economy Class tickets.

In the Non-Schengen area, Montale Lounge is the biggest and most economical, and caters best to families. The new Pergolesi Classic Lounge opened in 2024 with a similar offering, but it’s the Gae Aulenti Premium Lounge that reigns supreme. Smaller, more intimate and more luxurious it also has excellent food, from the good buffet to the great à la carte menu.

T2 has only one lounge, the Alda Merini. Opened in summer 2024, it’s a beautifully designed space set around a central vertical garden with cool backlit images of Milan cityscapes. With decent food and relaxation and work zones, it’s a great alternative to T2’s dearth of amenities, for the price of a single meal.