ITA Airways Plots Malpensa U-Turn To Fly Milan-Lima Route Before Emirates Can

Published Nov 4, 2026, 5:07 AM EST A graduate in German, Jake has a passion for history and regional aviation, and enjoys sampling new carriers and aircraft. He has visited OEM facilities as far and wide as Bristol, Toulouse, and Seattle, and recently enjoyed the milestone of flying his 150th sector as a passenger. Based in Norfolk, UK. ITA Airways is reportedly gearing up to return to Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP), almost three years after operating its last scheduled long-haul flights from the facility. The Italian flag carrier is eyeing services to Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM) in Lima, Peru, and it isn't just demand that has prompted the airline to look into this route. Rather, it has caught wind of a foreign carrier looking to link the cities. The airline in question is Emirates, which reportedly wants to add fifth-freedom flights from Milan Malpensa Airport to Lima as an extension of its existing services from its main hub at Dubai International Airport (DXB). The UAE flag carrier already flies from Milan to New York (JFK) in this manner. However, ITA Airways now wants to derail these ambitions and serve Lima itself from both Milan and Rome. ITA Airways Looks To Derail Emirates' Fifth-Freedom Ambitions As first reported by Corriere Della Sera, ITA Airways is looking to block Emirates' fifth-freedom expansion plans in Milan by operating its own flights from Malpensa to Lima. The airline favors Linate Airport (LIN) for its current operations in Milan, and last flew from Malpensa in January 2024 (to New York). However, despite the long-haul nature of the flight, ITA would not have to reopen a full base at MXP. Rather, it would link the facility with Lima as part of a longer 'W-shaped' rotation using an aircraft based at Rome Fiumicino Airport. As part of these plans, the jet would fly from Rome to Lima, then to Milan and back to Lima, and finally back to Rome again. This would allow the carrier to link both Milan and Rome with Lima two or three times a week with the Airbus A350. ITA CEO Jörg Eberhart told Corriere that: "As an Italian carrier, we are keen to serve the needs of the regions so as to contribute, through the development of our network, to the growth and competitiveness of the Italian system." Strong Demand Credit: viper-zero | Shutterstock Since whispers of Emirates' plans to link Milan and Lima on a fifth-freedom basis first emerged, opposition has arisen from various key stakeholders in the Italian commercial aviation sector. On this front, alongside ITA Airways' objections, Corriere Della Sera notes that Neos has also spoken out against the plans, appealing to Italy's National Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) ahead of its decision on the route. Regardless of the airline that ends up getting to fly between Milan and Lima, it is clear that there would be plenty of demand to support a new direct connection. Citing industry data, Corriere Della Sera notes that some 189,000 people fly indirectly between Milan and Lima a year, which, if served five times each way a week, would work out at an average of 363 passengers per flight. Emirates wants to fly daily. There is also decent demand from Rome, with 62,000 annual passengers working out at an average of around 200 per flight based on a hypothetical schedule of three flights a week in each direction. While this demand does not match that of Milan, it is enough to make the W-shaped routing worthwhile, given that ITA Airways does not currently have any crew or aircraft that are based at Malpensa Airport. Linate Has Long Been ITA & Alitalia's Preferred Milan Hub Credit: Dragos Asaftei | Shutterstock ITA Airways has long favored Linate Airport as its main hub for flights in and out of Milan, and this was also the case for its predecessor, Alitalia. According to historical scheduling data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company, the last time that Alitalia operated more flights out of Malpensa than Linate was 2008, with 24,343 compared to 18,739. Its peak at Malpensa came in 2006, with 62,243 flights. In 2009, the pendulum swung in Linate's favor, with the facility's total rising to 20,132 flights. At the same time, Alitalia's presence at MXP collapsed to just 5,167 services, and it continued to decline steadily throughout the 2010s. In 2019, it looked like a reprieve was in store, with the total briefly spiking to 9,181, but the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 put a stop to any real long-term growth plans.