Following sharp criticisms from Alessandro Albertini, the president of the Association of Air Agents (Anama), regarding operational inefficiencies at Malpensa's CargoCity and specifically naming operators Alha and Mle, both companies have issued joint statements in response. While Mle bluntly stated that "there is no emergency situation at Malpensa's cargo area that necessitates the extraordinary measures called for by Anama," Alha has offered a more detailed rebuttal.
Expressing "surprise" at Albertini's statements, Alha insists that operations at its Malpensa terminal "are proceeding smoothly." The company was even more surprised by the data presented by Anama, stating that it "does not match the data we have." Specifically, Albertini claimed that "since the second quarter of 2023, Milan Malpensa Airport has seen a negative performance trend due to service issues at the warehouses of the two main airport handlers in Milan Malpensa (Alha and Mle-Bcube), in terms of high cargo handling times and subsequent delays in deliveries to end customers."
Alha counters that these issues were caused by a labor dispute which has been "completely resolved" following the signing of a second-level agreement with the base unions that had initiated the mobilization, an agreement that was "met with wide approval by the workers of Alha Malpensa." Moreover, the company adds that the traffic growth on Malpensa "contradicts what was reported in Anama's statement."
However, according to Alha, this is not the first time Anama has targeted the "Malpensa system," accusing the association of conducting "a constant campaign of delegitimization" for months. The company argues that the association's proposals are "out of context, ineffective, and not feasible for addressing and managing moments of operational congestion caused by geopolitical, macroeconomic, and other unforeseeable events, which today more than ever characterize the air cargo sector, as the trade association should well know."
Alha's statement concludes with a call for a roundtable discussion "where all parties in the airway logistics chain work synergistically and constructively towards common goals, for the benefit of the Italian air cargo system, and not to exclusively serve partisan interests."
