You don’t live on cargo (freight transport) alone, as passenger flights are the lifeblood of an airport. However, in times of crisis, even cargo flights can provide invaluable help in maintaining an airport and Malpensa, by far the country’s first freight hub, is a prime example of this. Already during 2020, the first year of Covid, the air cargo business suffered significantly lower losses than the passenger sector. But it is at the beginning of 2021 that the acceleration took place. In the first two months, over 103 thousand tons of goods were handled at Malpensa (between import and export), with a dizzying growth of 32.1% compared to January-February of the previous year. The goods handled by express couriers, about 30 thousand tons, recorded a record jump of 93%, confirming that the cargo city of Malpensa is rapidly approaching pre-Covid levels thanks to the boom in e-commerce and medical supplies required by the pandemic. the increase in traffic generated by the new DHL logistics platform and Amazon flights.
After the inauguration in early March of the logistics base of DHL Express Italy, which required an investment of 110 million euros, in recent days Malpensa baptized the new Ups Naples-Milan-Cologne flight. To strengthen its air network for the benefit of Italian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and exports, UPS has chosen to make a stopover at Malpensa. The two segments (Naples Capodichino-Milan Malpensa and Milan Malpensa-Cologne) will allow SMEs in the regions concerned – Lombardy, Piedmont, and Valle d’Aosta for Northern Italy and Campania, Puglia and Basilicata for Southern Italy – to gain precious time. to the advantage of the production processes and the satisfaction of the final customer. In this case, the company will not open its own logistics base like DHL, but will rely on the cargo city warehouses built by Sea, the company that manages the airport.
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And Sea is already working on the future development of the cargo city. Sources of the airport operator explain: “The development of cargo at Malpensa will also be accompanied by the development of airport infrastructures dedicated to this traffic segment as envisaged by the 2035 Masterplan”. In fact, the plan includes the construction of new second-line cargo warehouses for freight logistics, new first-line warehouses for cargo handlers, couriers and e-commerce, a new cargo apron with 22 new stands for aircraft. medium in size, plus a new car park. Sea explains: “The amount of investments for these new infrastructures is about 90 million euros, to which we must add the investments of third party operators who want to grow their business on Malpensa and who will directly take care of the construction of the warehouses foreseen. The first Italian cargo airport will thus be able to handle almost 2 million tons of goods per year, almost double its current capacity ».
Meanwhile, the new logistics base of DHL, the fourth European hub of the DHL group after Leipzig (Germany) East Midlands (United Kingdom) and Brussels (Belgium), is already running at full capacity. Technologically advanced system capable of managing 37 flights per day and over 38 thousand pieces per hour, the Malpensa DHL hub represents the gateway between the Lombard and national business system with world markets. The plant now employs 900 direct and indirect employees, who can grow by a further 10% during peak periods.