Ryanair will launch an ambitious plan today to turn Milan's Malpensa airport into its main European hub.

The low-cost airline will meet executives from Italian airport operator SEA in Dublin today and offer to open 80 routes from Malpensa, serviced by 12 new aircraft.

"It is a major investment. It is very clear that there is huge room for growth in Milan. We can boost the number of passengers at Malpensa from the current 3m to over 10m," said a spokesman. Ryanair currently has 144 routes to Italy's 22 airport

The move came after Ryanair decided to cut back its operations from London Stansted, closing routes to Blackpool, Esjberg and Malmo. The routes between Dublin and Vasteras and Malmo are also being closed, and many more routes are becoming seasonal.

But the spokesman said the airline was not merely redeploying its fleet to Milan because of a lack of business on some routes out of Stansted. "The reason we are pulling out of Stansted is because BAA has doubled its passenger charges," he said.

Its proposal for Malpensa, as well as Milan's Orio al Serio and Bergamo airports, will include £620m of new planes which will arrive from next year until 2012.

Ryanair's move into Malpensa comes as Alitalia, Italy's national airline, said it would close down half its operations at the airport in order to cut its costs. The troubled airline has failed so far to find a buyer, despite being up for sale for almost a year. An auction for the Italian government's 49.9pc stake in Alitalia collapsed this summer when a handful of bidders, including Aeroflot, pulled out.

Ryanair said Malpensa would have to cut its charges, as well as streamline its operations. "We want the fingers connecting planes to the terminals to be removed, so that passengers can walk to the planes, and we want to be able to implement our 25 minute turn-around policy," said the spokesman.

However, any job losses at Malpensa are likely to be fiercely fought by the unions. Yesterday, the head of the regional government in neighbouring Piedmont dismissed Ryanair's chances. "The potential agreement between Ryanair and Malpensa, in terms of its size, its clauses and its timeline, could take us in exactly the opposite direction from what we are trying to do with north Italy's airports," said Mercedes Brasso.