At a meeting today, the Alitalia Board of Directors decided not to contest the European Commission`s decision last December which involved reorganising the air traffic flow in the Milanese airport area.

While still viewing the present traffic system as contradictory and impractical, Alitalia feels that an established pattern - though penalising - is far preferable to the prolonged instability that would have arisen had the Commission`s decision been contested.

Alitalia confirms its reservations about the distribution of air traffic between Linate and Malpensa airports, and forcefully points out the inconsistency of the norms set out in the current legislation, known as “the second Bersani decree” (Bersani was Transport Minister at the time). These norms are in fact drastically altering the project which was intended to make Linate into a city airport, destined for “point-to-point links using aircraft of the narrow body type”.

For this reason, Alitalia`s Board of Directors sincerely hopes that consistency between regulations and operative practices will be reinstated as soon as possible - through closer collaboration with the Civil Aviation Board (ENAC) as well - in order to ensure the ongoing development of the Malpensa project.

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