From aircraft to train, and vice versa, to transport parcels from Malpensa Airport to the Milan urban area. This is the trial launched by Sea at the end of July 2026, in partnership with DHL Express Italy and several subsidiaries of the Fnm group. On 28 August, the airport company announced that the first two shipments, carried out during time slots with lower passenger traffic, had produced positive results. Both tests took place on services departing before 6.00 in the morning. The parcel was collected from the DHL Express Italy hub at Malpensa and taken by electric vehicle to the Terminal 1 railway station, where it was loaded onto a Malpensa Express train bound for Milano Cadorna station. From there, it was transferred to a second electric vehicle for final delivery to the DHL point at Via Mosè Bianchi 99, in the CityLife area. The Fnm companies involved are Malpensa Intermodale for the operational running of the service, Malpensa Distripark for operations management and traceability, Ferrovienord and E-Vai for the infrastructure and electric mobility components, as well as Trenord, which operates the trains on which the parcel was loaded.
Sea is coordinating the initiative as a partner in the European Olga project. For now, this is a test of operational feasibility, as the launch of a commercial project still lacks guidance on transportable volumes, the type of containers permitted, overall door-to-door times and the economic terms of the service. Regulatory aspects of carrying freight on passenger trains also remain to be defined, including responsibilities in the event of anomalies, as does the customs perimeter for shipments that may be routed by rail.
The European Olga programme (hOListic & Green Airports), launched in October 2021 and coordinated by Aéroports de Paris, involves not only the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport but also the airports of Zagreb, Cluj and Malpensa. The European Commission places it among three Green Deal airport projects financed with a total of €75 million under the Horizon programme, alongside Stargate and Tulips. For Olga, the European contribution indicated by the European Commission is €25 million. The project is due to end in September 2026, and the results of the Malpensa tests will be analysed in that context to establish the conditions for any potential replication of the model, both at the Lombardy airport and in other European airport settings.
