27 October 2019

Milan Linate Airport reopens

The President and the Director General of ENAC welcome the arrival of the first flight

After 90 days from the start of the works and in perfect line with the timetable scheduled from 26 October, Milan Linate Airport is back in operation. The President of ENAC, Nicola Zaccheo, and the Director General, Alessio Quaranta, welcomed the arrival of the first flight on the afternoon of 26 October, with the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Paola De Micheli, the Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala, the top management of SEA the management company of Milan airports, Michaela Castelli, President, and Armando Brunini, Chief Executive Officer, and other representatives of institutions and companies involved.

All the interventions carried out on the airport and those planned are part of the ENAC-SEA Program Contract and the related five-year investment plans.

The restyling of Linate airport and, in particular, the modernisation of the runway and the new baggage handling system, were managed with the "Bridge" project, which made it possible to guarantee the operation of the Milan airport system by transferring, from 27 July to 26 October, flights from Linate to Malpensa and, in part, in Bergamo.

To build the "Bridge", ENAC has activated its own task force of professional technicians with supervisory tasks who, in compliance with the institutional mandate of the Authority, have taken care of the investigation and testing of the interventions, including those to upgrade Malpensa Airport that have become necessary to allow the temporary management of traffic coming from Linate.

ENAC's technical structures have, in particular:

• approved projects for a total amount of € 55 million

• approved the Linate extraordinary maintenance plan for the year 2019 for about 30 intervention sheets for a total amount of about € 16 million

• established commissions for the issue of certifications of usability and testing of the main works.

"Thanks to the works carried out", said President Nicola Zaccheo, "Linate Airport has raised both safety standards and comfort levels of areas and services, aligning with those offered in the most important European airports.

The reopening in full compliance with the scheduled times is the result of the synergy put in place by all those involved, from ENAC staff to the SEA management company who used resources and means adequate to the challenge, to the workers who worked to achieve the common goal in favor of the efficiency and quality of air transport".

The General Manager Alessio Quaranta commented: "With about 10 million passengers per year, Linate has the important role of city airport of Milan and as such must be enhanced and made even more usable as a functional service hub not only for the city, but for the entire territory, both for commercial and general aviation. Among the various aspects characterizing the redevelopment interventions of the airport, I would like to remember how the design solutions chosen have paid particular attention to respect for the environment".

The construction sites for the renovation of Linate Airport continue until March 2021 to transform it into a European city airport at the height of the city of Milan.

Edited by Alisè Vitri, Avion Tourism Magazine

Text source: ENAC Press Office

Visual: Alexandre Rotenberg / Sisterscom.com / Shutterstock.com

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