Story ID: 530
SEA Prime: Malpensa Prime is 'Natural Growth'
By: Ian Sheppard
Caption: The July opening of an FBO at Milan's Malpensa Airport just happens to coincide with Milan Linate closing for three months for runway resurfacing.
Word Count: 329
Finishing touches are being applied to the new 1,400-sq-m Milan Malpensa Prime business and general aviation terminal as it is prepared for opening in July, coincident with the temporary closing of Milan Linate Airport on July 26.

The city’s main business aviation airport will shut for runway resurfacing that will take three months, requiring SEA Prime (Booth W45)—which is owned by Milan airports operator SEA—to temporarily close its Linate FBO to fixed-wing operations, while hoping it will be able to continue rotary-wing operations, subject to local regulatory approval.

The new-build private FBO at Malpensa is situated between Terminals 1 and 2 and has its own apron of around 60,000 sq m, and a 5,000 sq m hangar. It has five lounges, a conference center, limousine service, and concierge.

Speaking at EBACE 2019 on Wednesday, SEA Prime CEO Chiara Dorigotti said, “Malpensa has been in our minds for a while…it was approved one and a half years ago by the SEA board. The timing of the opening is a happy coincidence and is the perfect showcase.”

Dorigotti said Malpensa was the “natural” place for Linate traffic to go rather than Lugano, which can’t offer the same facilities or service and has winter restrictions. She admitted, however, that after the three-month Linate closure, most traffic was likely to move back to Linate as those customers tend to be ones that access the city.

Last year, Linate saw 26,000 business aviation movements, while Malpensa saw just 5,000. With the opening of Malpensa Prime, which Dorigotti described as “a natural expansion” of its services at Linate, she expects to see steady growth of business aviation traffic that wants to access that side of the city, the ski areas such as Aosta Valley and Chamonix, and the lakes such as Como and Maggiore. In addition, Malpensa can take “any size of aircraft, all the way up to A380s,” and is open 24/7, according to Dorigotti.