Milan Linate Airport

If you arrive in Milan and want to be downtown in a quarter of an hour by metro, you land at Linate. The airport is so close to the city that on approach you can almost touch the rooftops of the eastern districts. There is no long-haul here, but there is a frequency you look for in vain at many bigger airports: Rome, Naples, Catania, Cagliari, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt – on a single runway. At the same time, Linate is the site of the worst aviation disaster in Italy’s history. Both belong to this airport, and both deserve a closer look.

From seaplane-base neighbor to city airport

Linate’s history begins with water. Around 1930 the Idroscalo was built in the east of the city, an artificial lake where seaplanes were meant to take off and land. Seaplane flying never caught on, though, and the old Taliedo airfield had become too small for the growing aircraft. So in June 1933, construction of a new airport began right next to the lake. It opened on October 21, 1937, and from 1938 it served civilian traffic entirely. Today the Idroscalo is a leisure and swimming lake – and still lies right next to the runway.

The terminal building was designed by the architect Gianluigi Giordani from Bologna, and a striking hangar 235 meters wide was also part of the original complex. The airport is officially named after Enrico Forlanini, a Milanese engineer and aviation pioneer. In everyday speech hardly anyone says “Forlanini”, though – for Milanese and travelers it is simply Linate, after the district of the same name.

In the decades after the war, Linate was the city’s most important airport. Around 1960 the airport was comprehensively modernized and the runway extended to the Lambro river. The big turning point came in 1998: with the Malpensa 2000 project, intercontinental traffic moved to Malpensa, about 50 kilometers away, which the then Alitalia made its hub in northern Italy. Linate remained the airport close to the city for domestic and European flights – a role it still plays today.

October 8, 2001: the Linate disaster

No text about Linate can get around this day. On the morning of October 8, 2001, dense fog lay over the airport, with visibility under 200 meters. A Cessna Citation CJ2 with two German pilots and two passengers on board was to fly to Paris-Le Bourget. The ground control clearance provided for a route via the northern taxiway, but the crew taxied onto the southern one – and so ended up on the active runway, which at the time carried a different designation than today.

At the same time, a McDonnell Douglas MD-87 of SAS was accelerating as flight SK686 to Copenhagen. At about 150 knots it hit the Cessna, lifted off briefly and crashed into a baggage building at the end of the runway. All 110 people aboard the MD-87, the four occupants of the Cessna and four employees in the building were killed. With 118 dead, it remains the worst aviation disaster in Italy.

The final report of the Italian investigation agency ANSV of January 2004 saw the Cessna’s taxiing onto the runway as the immediate cause – but painted a picture of many gaps in the system. The old ground radar had been out of service since 1999, and the new one was not yet fully operational. Markings and signs on the taxiways were poorly visible, worn or did not comply with regulations. A holding-point marking that the Cessna crew reported by radio was not recorded in the controller’s documents, so he could not place it. A warning system against unintended runway entry was switched off. In addition, according to the report, the Cessna pilots were not qualified for operations in such low visibility.

Several people responsible at the airport and in air traffic control were later put on trial; the proceedings ran through several instances up to the Court of Cassation in 2008, with some defendants convicted and others acquitted. How taxiways, holding points and signs work today is explained in the article Taxiways, holding points and signs.

The Linate disaster belongs to a series of other collisions that fundamentally changed aviation. If you want to compare the backgrounds, you’ll find them in the articles on the Tenerife disaster of 1977 and the Überlingen collision of 2002.

Independent of the disaster, traffic at Linate is also politically limited. That is the subject of the next section.

Limited traffic: slots and permitted destinations

Technically, Linate could handle more flights than actually take off and land. Since 2001, a law has set how many slots per hour may be allocated – significantly fewer than the technical capacity. According to available information, the cap was then reduced from 32 to 22 slots per hour. In addition, only domestic flights and connections within the EU and to the UK may be offered from Linate. Long-haul, Gulf carriers or flights to Turkey are therefore not to be found here.

That explains the typical picture: many narrow jets, hardly any widebodies, very dense domestic traffic. What a slot is exactly and why airports allocate them is explained in the article Airport slots.

One runway, mostly 35

For scheduled traffic, Linate has only one runway: 17/35, 2,442 meters long, running north-south. An older, short secondary runway, according to available information, now serves only as a taxiway. Over the years the runway designations were adjusted because of the change in magnetic variation – older reports, such as those on the 2001 disaster, therefore show other numbers. Why runway numbers change at all is covered in the article on runway designations at airports.

Landings are mostly on 35, that is, with an approach from the south over the municipalities southeast of Milan; this direction has an ILS approach. Wind and air traffic control can turn the direction at any time, though. How to estimate the runway direction in advance is covered in the article Understanding runway direction at airports; how an instrument approach works is explained in The ILS approach explained.

ITA Airways, easyJet and the network feeders

Linate is the airport where ITA Airways shows its presence in Milan. The Italian network airline, successor to the Alitalia that ceased operations in 2021, has its hub in Rome-Fiumicino but runs one of its focus operations at Linate. The connection to Rome is traditionally among the most-flown routes from Linate, joined by destinations in southern Italy, on Sardinia and Sicily and in Europe. In the picture you mainly see the Airbus A220-100 and the A220-300 as well as A320-family types such as the A320 and the A320neo. Since January 2025, the Lufthansa Group has held 41 percent of ITA Airways.

easyJet also maintains a base at Linate and, with its A320 family – from the A319 to the A321neo – serves destinations in Italy and Europe. The Italian carriers Aeroitalia and Air Dolomiti and the Spanish Volotea with seasonal island connections add extra color.

The big European network airlines bring their feeders to their own hubs: Lufthansa, Air France, KLM, British Airways, Iberia, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Aer Lingus, Finnair, Luxair and SAS are among the guests according to schedules (as of October 2026). Eurowings and KM Malta Airlines add to that. On some feeders you see regional jets of the Embraer E-Jet family alongside the A320 family – how to tell them apart is shown in the article Telling Embraer E-Jets apart.

Business jets: the secret star

For many spotters, business aviation is the real reason to visit Linate. The proximity to downtown, trade fairs, banks and fashion houses makes the airport a sought-after destination for business jets. On days with big events in Milan – such as during fashion weeks or major trade fairs – the business aviation apron can fill up noticeably. What you get to see then ranges from small light jets to large long-range business jets.

A good introduction to the topic is the article Spotting business jets. If you want to tell the types apart reliably, Telling Gulfstream, Global, Falcon, Citation and Challenger apart helps. Business jets often carry foreign registrations and change owners more frequently – cleanly noted registrations are especially valuable here.

Spotting at Linate: a city airport without a terrace

There is no official observation deck at Linate. The airport lies in the middle of a densely used landscape of residential areas, commercial zones, roads, the Idroscalo in the east and Parco Forlanini in the west. Spotters use publicly accessible areas around the grounds – exactly where the view is good depends heavily on fences, trees, construction work and the current runway direction.

A few basic considerations help with planning:

• Under the approach to 35: Because most landings come from the south, that is where the best chance for approach shots lies. Check on the map beforehand which public paths are close enough to the approach line.
• East side around the Idroscalo: From the leisure area at the lake you look west at the runway – with the sun behind you in the morning. How close you can get to the runway and how much the trees block, you should check on site.
• West side and Parco Forlanini: This is the city side with the terminal. The light works better in the afternoon, but buildings restrict the view in many places.
• Terminal, landside: Through the windows in the public area you get an impression of the apron. That is enough for souvenir photos, but not really for clean spotter shots.

A vantage point that worked a few years ago may be overgrown or closed today. Check current field reports and use Planetrack’s spot map with directions, best light, ratings and community photos for the locations.

Weather and equipment

Linate lies on the Po plain, which is known for fog – especially in fall and winter. The 2001 disaster in particular shows how dense it can get. For spotters that means: on gray days visibility can be so poor that the trip hardly pays off. You often get the clearest conditions after a change in the weather, when wind cleans the air. How to read weather reports is shown in METAR and TAF for spotters, and tips for gloomy days are in the article Plane spotting in bad weather.

Because mostly narrow jets and business jets are around, you need a medium to longer telephoto depending on your vantage point. In summer the air can shimmer over the asphalt, which makes long focal lengths look soft. Which lenses suit what is explained in the article on the right focal length. In Planetrack you see weather, wind and the active runway at the airport at a glance.

Getting there: the M4 straight to the terminal

Linate is the easiest airport to reach in Milan. Since November 26, 2022, metro line M4 has ended at Linate Aeroporto station right at the terminal. At first it ran only to Dateo, in July 2023 the section to San Babila was added, and since October 2024 the line has been fully operational through to San Cristoforo in the west of the city. It takes about 12 minutes to San Babila in the center.

In addition, city buses and a bus to Milano Centrale main station run, taking about 25 minutes. For the spots outside the terminal a bike or car is practical, but you can also reach many areas around the Idroscalo and Parco Forlanini on foot or by bus.

Linate in the Milan airport system

Milan has three major airports, and each has its own role. Malpensa is the intercontinental and cargo airport, Bergamo a big low-cost location, Linate the airport close to the city for domestic, European and business travel. Malpensa and Linate are run by the same company, SEA. When Linate closed completely for three months in 2019 to renew the runway and terminal, Malpensa and Bergamo took over the traffic.

In a European comparison, Linate recalls other city airports such as London City Airport or Paris-Orly: close to the city, with many business travelers and a focus on short routes. In 2023 the airport association ACI Europe named Linate the best airport in Europe in the five to ten million passenger class.

If you are planning a spotting trip to northern Italy, Linate and Malpensa combine well over a weekend – one delivers the frequency and the business jets, the other long-haul and cargo. For a museum visit, Volandia right at Malpensa Airport is an option.

Conclusion

Linate is not an airport of grand gestures. One runway, one terminal, no widebody jets – but a dense frequency of domestic and European flights, many ITA Airways and easyJet aircraft and varied business aviation. By metro you are at the terminal a quarter of an hour from the center, which makes Linate an ideal destination for a spotting detour.

At the same time, Linate is a place with history. The disaster of October 8, 2001 changed Italian aviation, and the memorial grove in Parco Forlanini remembers the 118 victims to this day. If you spot here, keep that in mind – and move with respect for the fence, residents and the place.