Milan-Malpensa is the Italian airport with the strongest growth in passenger traffic in 2025, according to recent statistics published by Assaeroporti, the Italian association of airport managers.
All Italian airports had an excellent year in 2025. Last year, the airports recorded 230.081 million passengers, divided between 72.057 million passengers on domestic routes and 156.978 million international passengers.
" This number at Italian airports in 2025 represents a major milestone for the Italian aviation sector, which has more than doubled in volume in twenty years. It has grown from 113 to 230 million passengers. This result confirms the sector's solidity and resilience, even in a complex global context marked by geopolitical tensions and protectionist measures that are impacting international flows."commented Carlo Borgomeo, Chairman of Assaeroporti, analysing the data published by Italian civil aviation.
Growth was spread across the whole of Italy: the south saw the strongest increase, with passenger numbers up by 8.7% last year, followed by the central airports (Rome, Florence, Bologna among others) with traffic growth of 5.2%. Growth in the North was lower, but still sustained at 4.9%; finally, islands such as Sardinia and Elba recorded a 2% increase in passenger traffic.
In 2025, July and August were the busiest months, with 23.83 million and 24.38 million passengers respectively. This indicates that Italian air traffic is strongly supported by leisure tourism.
Soaring traffic volumes at Milan-Malpensa
The majority of Italian airports have therefore experienced reasonable growth - even exceptional growth in the case of Bari, Trieste or Milan-Malpensa. Although it is not a hub, the airport makes the most of its position as a gateway to Italy's largest business metropolis.
The 8.6% growth in traffic at Milan Malpensa - or 31.38 million passengers - is 3.5 points higher than the growth for all Italian airports (+5.02% in 2025). This growth reflects the strong development of long-haul routes. In 2025, Malpensa welcomed new routes operated by Delta Air Lines to Boston, American Airlines to Philadelphia and Vietnam Airlines to Hanoi. Lombard airport also celebrated the return of Asian airlines such as All Nippon Airways and Cathay Pacific, EVA Air and Thai Airways International. International passengers now account for 80 % of traffic.
The surge in traffic is also putting pressure on Malpensa's reception facilities, with congestion at check-in and screening. The airport operator SEA Milan Airports recently approved an initial project worth over €65 million.
Called T1XL, this project will extend Terminal 1 by 14,500 m2. More passport control points with more automatic kiosks, a complete reconfiguration of the commercial areas including 21 new shops and more user-friendly waiting areas. In the longer term, the airport plans to build a new north pier. The expansion is a matter of urgency, given the forecast growth in passenger traffic this year of around 5%.
By contrast, Bergamo airport, which also serves the greater Milan metropolitan area, saw its traffic fall by 2.4% last year. The hub, the third largest in the country with almost 17 million passengers, suffered from the withdrawal of Ryanair at the beginning of 2025 before a strong comeback in the autumn...
Two other major Italian airports reported favourable traffic growth: Naples grew by 4.9%, with more than 13.2 million passengers. For its part, Rome-Fiumicinowith growth of 4.3% last year, exceeded the 50 million passenger mark for the first time in a single year.
Italy's busiest airport is in fact launching new works: a new boarding pier for intercontinental flights, a lounge dedicated to Schengen business aviation, and improved biometric gates to integrate with the EU's Entry/Exit System. Work is due to start in the third quarter of 2026. The Aeroporti di Roma authorities are preparing the construction of a new 'North' terminal, which will be able to handle some 100 million passengers by 2045. With an estimated investment budget of at least €2 billion.
