Malpensa: here is the new “satellite”, a mooring for the giants of the air

This is a colossal work, consisting of 2000 tons of steel, 1000 tons of marble, 10000 m² of titanium zinc, and 5000 m² of sound-absorbent glass, with a total cost of €300 million. Giuseppe Bonomi, the President of SEA, the company that manages the airport, Giuliano Pisapia, the Mayor of Milan, the biggest shareholder of SEA, and Giuseppe Sala, the administrator of Expo 2015, made the opening of the new satellite of Malpensa official. The three men rushed to hold the ceremony just days before the official opening, which will take place on Sunday 13 January, with the Malpensa Party Day, when Malpensa’s new wing will be revealed to passengers and onlookers, and will be ready to welcome new aircraft and travellers.

With the opening of the new satellite, which has a total area of 35,000m² (“more than the total area of Linate,” Bonomi explained), the terminal’s capacity will increase by 50%, as will the new opportunities.

THE INSPECTION AS THE WORK WAS COMING TO AN END

“The new satellite and the new airport structures are a way of reiterating the essential role of Malpensa,” explained the Mayor of Milan, Giuliano Pisapia, who said that, “the recovery and growth of this area cannot exclude a modern, advanced and integrated airport system that is able to guarantee direct links with the most dynamic areas of the world, particularly, those of the Far East.”

The new work entailed a massive investment, more than €300 million, which was made exclusively by the management company SEA. “This is the biggest investment in airport infrastructure in Italy, since 1998,” SEA President, Giuseppe Bonomi, explained. “And despite the difficulties caused by the economic situation, the start of work was the demonstration of how much faith SEA have in Malpensa, as a large, strategic structure.

With the satellite, Malpensa will have 41 loading bridges, and, an absolute first for an Italian airport, it will be able to receive 2 Airbus 380s simultaneously, boarding the passengers through 3 bridges (one for the upper deck, and two for the main deck). One of these will connect the company’s VIP lounge directly to the aircraft, without having to go through the gate. The new loading bridges have state-of-the-art technology, based on a mobile mechanism that allows regulating their height, in such a way that, depending on the need, the can serve two different floors of the satellite, thereby maximising flexibility. JFK Airport, in New York is the only other airport to have just such a structure.

With the third satellite operating, all extra-Schengen flights will now pass to the new structure, while Satellite B will take both Schengen and extra-Schengen flights.

Work on the new satellite began in 2009, and all of the structure of the final third will be operational by 2015, with an overall area of 120,000 m², which will enable Terminal 1 to take up to 30 million passengers.

“Millions of people will come to Milan, to visit the EXPO,” concluded Mayor Pisapia, together with the CEO of EXPO 2015, Giuseppe Sala. “The city will be ready to welcome them and to show them an efficient system, starting with the infrastructure. Malpensa will be the visiting card for the EXPO. The message today is one of trust. What we have here is a wager that we believe in.”