Chaos at Milan's $1.2bn airport in chaos

AFTER A harrowing debut this weekend, Milan's new Malpensa airport was still bogged down in delays and technical bungles yesterday with many airlines forced to cancel flights.

While officials at the state-owned airport said the average delay had been scaled back to just one hour, some passengers were still standing around for flights for up to five hours while others were forced to wait four hours for their baggage.

Malpensa's grand opening on Sunday was marred by delays, technical hitches and first day blunders as staff grappled with new systems and baggage handling broke down.

Early yesterday, the $1.2bn airport's departures hall was still full of irate travellers waiting for flights that should have taken off more than five hours before. Nerves were further frayed when restaurants ran out of food and water.

"People were shouting at staff, flight boards were not working and no one could tell us what was going on." said Steve Shakespeare, a British passenger who was delayed for over five hours.

"It was complete bedlam and the cabin staff had to eventually load our baggage onto the plane." (Reuters)