Iberia to move Milan flights to Linate in late 4Q20

Iberia (IB, Madrid Barajas) will relocate its services from Madrid Barajas to Milan from Milan Malpensa to Milan Linate as of December 1, 2020, the carrier’s internet booking engine shows. The Spanish airline currently operates daily from the Spanish capital to Malpensa using A319-100s and A320-200s. Following the move to Linate, the frequency of flights will increase to 12x weekly (2x daily on weekdays and one flight each on Saturdays and Sundays). The relocation further consolidates Linate’s position as the airport of choice for full-service European carriers. According to the ch-aviation capacities module, Malpensa, located much further away from the city centre, is mainly served by low-cost carriers. The three largest carriers, Ryanair (FR, Dublin Int’l), Wizz Air (W6, Budapest), and easyJet (U2, London Luton), have a 58.1% market share at the airport by capacity. Alitalia (AZ, Rome Fiumicino) recently abandoned its former northern Italian hub altogether in favour of Linate which sees no LCC traffic at all. There, Alitalia has an 86.8% market share. Iberia will join Alitalia and Linate’s six other full-service and hybrid carriers (excluding scheduled business charter operator GlobeAir (GAC, Linz)).