INTRODUCTION
Hello everyone
The last time I went to Rome was in mid-April, one week before my trip to Asia
Considering my parents visited me in mid-May I postponed a weekend to Rome until early June
Since the 2nd June is the Republic Day in Italy and this year it fall on Monday I organise a long weekend
Being busy on Friday 30th May I went for 31st May to 2nd June
The “cheapest” solution proved to be Aeroitalia, departing from Milan-Malpensa (105 km from my house) rather than Bergamo (30 km)
I booked the flight on the 3rd May
225 euros for this flight is unnecessary expensive, but that’s it
ROUTING
Aeroitalia - Milan MXP > Rome FCO - Embraer E-190
Aeroitalia - Rome FCO > Milan MXP - Embraer E-190
Some stats:
10th out of 11 flights of 2025 (as of June 2025)
First time on an Embraer E-190
Second time flying on MXP-FCO route (the first one was in 2009 as the end of the MRU-DXB–MXP-FCO journey)
THE FLIGHT
A few days before the flight I booked a long term parking for 33 euros
It’s located 10 minutes driving away from the Terminal and a friend of mine gave me good reviews about
In order to catch the flight at 12:30 I left my home in San Pellegrino around 8:15
I calculated one hour and half to cover the 105 km to Malpensa and half a hour to leave the car and reach the terminal
This would have give me more than two hours before the flight
Malpensa is located in the middle of a “V” made by A4 and A8 motorway. They’re both connected to the airport by a high speed free highway.
The first one is more convenient coming from Turin, while the second is better from Milan (and Bergamo, where I come from)
The A8 is widely considered the first purpose built motorway in the world. It connects Milan to the Italian-Swiss border in Varese
Reaching the long term car park at 9:45, perfectly in my schedule
Car registration and the shuttle bus took me nearly 30 minutes
At 10:15 I arrived at Milan-Malpensa “Silvio Berlusconi” Airport
Terminal 1 handles all the operations, apart from Terminal 2 which hosts easyJet only
The departure hall was pretty busy, considering that was a long weekend for most people in Italy
Malpensa Terminal 1 is pretty unique since the whole check in hall has large windows on the apron
Line up of European birds:
Iberia, SAS and SkyExpress A320s
Delta Airlines Boeing 767-400ER bound to ATL
MEA A321neo and Turkish Airlines A350 boarding respectively to Beirut-BEY and Istanbul-IST
Hainan Airlines DreamLiner to Shenzhen-SZX
Cathay Pacific Boeing 777 in oneworld livery boarding to Hong Kong-HKG
Gulf Air A321neo getting ready to go to Rome-FCO before flying home to Bahrain-BAH, under the 8th Freedom
The Gulf Air bird taking off behind an Etihad Airways Triple-7 and an Azerbaijan Airlines A320, bound respectively to Abu Dhabi-AUH and Baku-GYD
The apron towards the cargo area
Aegean A320, WizzAir A321 and a Thai Airways Boeing 777 at the remotes
The cargo area hosts many nice birds, along as a few Neos DreamLiners
The Turkish Airlines A350 taxiing away to its home
Minutes before eleven I made my way to the security checkpoint
I was very quick to overtake a ground of 40 eighty-year-old vacationers
The inspection area was quite crowded, almost all the channels were opened
By the way it took me ten minutes to clear
The shopping area is very nice, even if is completely lacking of natural light
A bit suffocating
My gate would be A26, in the bus gate area of the terminal
I spent around half a hour waiting in the main hold room, charging my phone
Fifteen minutes before scheduled boarding (12:00) I made my way to the assigned gate
Neos Air 787s surrounding a beautiful DHL Boeing 767F
Air Horizontal 737, my Aeroitalia Embraer E-190 and CargoAir 737F
This boarding area hosts a few bus gates
Mine was already set for departure
At 12:07, seven minutes later than scheduled, the gate was opened
The ride was short, however we were left to wait under the plane for more than 10 minutes
Today’s bird:
Aeroitalia Embraer ERJ-190SR, SX-PTM
First delivery on 2nd May 2008 (17.1 years old, no infos about the first flight) to Baboo. It later flew for carriers like Azul and BA CityFlyer before entering Marathon Airlines fleet
It’s leased by Aeroitalia since March 2025
Can fly 100 passengers in full-Y configuration
Neos Air 787 taxiing by
Air China A350 bound to Beijing-PEK
That livery is so “institutional”
Almost half a hour after the gate was opened we’re finally allowed onboard
I like Aeroitalia livery, I find it quite “fresh” and friendly
The load factor was around 60%
Even if the self check in as assigned me 19C I was able to get to 11D, on the emergency exit row
DHL 737F operated by CargoAir next to us
Six minutes after scheduled departure doors were closed
We left the gate moments after
El Al 777 and Neos 787 remotely parked
SilkWay Boeing 747-400F
Poste Air Cargo 737F
DHL and West Atlantic 737Fs
FedEx ATR-72-600F
Lining up on runway 35L for take off
At 12:51, twenty minutes later than scheduled engines went full throttle
Runway 17L-35R visible in the distance
Pointing southward and Climbing over Novara area
Snowy Alps are visible in the distance
Leveling while over Pianura Padana
Pavia, in Lombardy Region
Approaching Tyrrean Sea
Elba Island
Mount Argentario and Giglio Island, where Costa Concordia cruise ship sunk in 2012
20 minutes in the flight some water was offered by the cabin crew
Since the last time I flew Aeroitalia (November 2024) I think a small improvement had been made, both in term of service and time respect
The crew was very polite and the plane looked well maintained
40 minutes after leaving MXP the cabin was prepared for landing
Approaching FCO from north
While the heading was adjusted I spot FCO in the distance
We’d land on runway 16L
About to land
At 13:41, four minutes before scheduled, we touched down at Rome-Fiumicino International Airport
The touchdown was a bit r
Vacating soon after
We were followed by a United Airlines 777 just landed from San Francisco-SFO
Entering ITA Airways land
Docking next to an Aeroitalia 737 less than ten minutes after touching down
Disembark was quicker than boarding, getting off in five minutes
Welcomed in Rome by a warm sun and another Aeroitalia 737
Last view of my bird while getting on the bus
On the way to the terminal I spotted an American Airlines 787 heading to the runway to depart to New York-JFK
Minutes after 14:00 the bus left us at the Terminal
Even if the booking reference said “T3” we disembark at “T1”
Fortunately they’re so close it doesn’t pose any issue to my parents waiting for me
Having the back pack only I made my way to the exit
I met my parents at Terminal 1 departure road and we headed straight home
It took around 20 minutes
Stay tuned for the return rn fligh
