Local innovation largely reduces average truck waiting times at WFS’ Milan Malpensa cargo terminal

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Worldwide Flight Services (WFS) is reducing average truck processing times at Milan Malpensa Airport using an SMS-based warehouse door assignment system developed by its local cargo handling team.

WFS handles some 28,000 trucks a year at its cargo terminal at Milan Malpensa, Italy’s biggest airfreight gateway. The airport handles approximately 65% of the country’s annual airfreight volumes.

Designed to streamline truck loading and unloading operations for import and export air cargo, the service improvement was made possible by a strategic redesign and investment in the warehouse frontage, including the addition of truck parking bays. Using the new SMS solution to provide clear and timely communications to drivers to assign trucks to the warehouse doors has produced measurable workflow improvements.

Recent performance analysis shows the average time to serve a truck at the Milan cargo facility is now 48 minutes, with only 10% of total operations above Airport KPI, scored during Peak Time. The data also confirmed that 45% of all truck visits to WFS are now completed within 30 minutes, rising to 75% within 1 hour.

WFS is continuously promoting ‘CargoKiosk’ technology to simplify and digitalise the processing of trucks and drivers. The enhanced SMS solution accelerates documentation handling, saving valuable time for drivers and improving vehicle productivity for freight and logistics operators.

“Continuous performance monitoring via daily reports is a key focus for WFS and ensures ongoing service improvement and operational transparency. This truck handling innovation provides the opportunity to boost throughput and increase customer satisfaction, delivering consistent, timely service and unlocking higher levels of efficiency and value. We invite all customers to actively use all digital solutions provided by WFS as the handler and the Airport to ease the acceptance and delivery process,” said Operations Director, Luigi Pellino.

In early 2026, WFS MXP has also introduced Dock Coordination Position and will continue to invest in the area to support a reorganisation of vehicle flow and dedicated acceptance office at dock level, in coordination with SEA, the Airport Authority.

WFS currently handles all types of cargo for 11 online and five offline airline customers.