SEA Prime SpA, a leading Italian airport operator, unveiled the Linate Prime Terminal expansion project in preparation for the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. The expansion aims to enhance the existing infrastructure, meeting the growing needs of air traffic and promoting sustainable and innovative aviation. The terminal expansion, scheduled for the first quarter of 2026, includes an increase in lounge space and service areas.
The assignment was entrusted to a team of experts: in particular, Incide Engineering followed the design of the new structures and facilities, in temporary association with SAB – Architettura Ingegneria Integrata for the general coordination, seismic adjustment and safety, CREW S.r.l. for the concept and architectural design, M2P S.r.l. and engineer Alessandro Marradi.
This design sees the synergetic work being done to create this renewed modern and efficient infrastructure, which will consolidate Linate Prime as a strategic hub for business aviation in Europe and contribute to the decarbonisation of the sector.
The project for SEA Prime SpA, between innovation and sustainability
The project envisages a significant expansion of the terminal, incorporating the adjacent hangar and increasing its surface area by approximately 2,000 square metres, 400 of which will be used for technical rooms and warehousing required for airport operations. This expansion will include new lounges and service areas to enhance passenger comfort. The iconic design will reflect the beauty of the surrounding landscape and Milanese identity, offering a restyling of both landside and airside facades for a new and improved travel experience. Here are the emerging features.
Cutting-edge design
Innovation and design play a crucial role in the project. The layout will be dynamic, optimising acoustic comfort to ensure a unique travel experience for passengers. The interior will feature an essential and elegant design, with materials selected to enhance the terminal’s aesthetics and echo Milan’s cultural identity.
Attention to technical and architectural details
Lighting will be managed with long suspended LED tracks, and the focal point of the lobby will feature SEA Prime’s concierge desk and a large skylight. Passenger and crew comfort is at the heart of the design, with passenger and staff flows separated to ensure privacy and efficiency.
Sustainability at the centre
Sustainability is among the key elements of the project. In fact, existing structures will be reused and photovoltaic panels will be installed for energy production. Advanced heating and cooling systems will be implemented to reduce energy consumption and improve the energy efficiency of the entire terminal.
Incide’s intervention: structural and plant innovation
As anticipated, the project declined the multifaceted theme of sustainability on several fronts.
First and foremost, the hangar itself showed a marked flexibility of interior spaces, ideal to be redeveloped and enhanced with an expansive and ecological perspective. Then, proceeding with instrumental and analytical checks of the building and with punctual improvement works, Incide preserved the existing hangar structure, reusing it to support a new roofing system, which integrates an extensive array of photovoltaic panels.
In addition to the panels for energy generation, the entire system was designed with the aim of optimising efficiency and achieving the lowest possible energy impact, such as the air management system.
Intelligent air management to cut energy costs
The air handling units are of the latest generation, with IE5 high-efficiency motors, which guarantee greater reliability with less energy use and therefore lower carbon monoxide emissions. These same machines have been designed with heat recovery systems, to exploit the temperature of the expelled air to the advantage of the incoming air, at zero energy cost.
The air management system also verifies not only temperature and other standard parameters, but also the percentage presence of CO2 in the environment, modulating the change of air as needed, thus guaranteeing the highest level of internal well-being with minimum energy use.
Heating systems
The heating system is fed by a high-efficiency district heating network, which is in turn fed by the thermal cascade from a cogeneration centre, thus eliminating the need for additional combustion or use of electricity for this purpose.
The structure supporting the building’s new skin
The new metal structure ensures maximum site agility in the tight spaces available and, by its very nature, is 100% recyclable, and carries the new horizontal and vertical partitions as well as the new installations inside.
It also extrudes outwards to better support the building’s new metal skin, reflective and undulating, which increases luminosity and blends with the landscape through the mimesis of reflection. The addition of hangar 1 to the existing air terminal is, in fact, an opportunity to give the complex a new image that is at the same time identifying the service, iconic and respectful of the landscape context in which it’s inserted.
With the expansion of the Linate Prime Terminal, SEA Prime will not only improve the existing infrastructure, but also strengthen Milan’s position as a strategic hub for business aviation in Europe.
Indeed, the team of experts is working to deliver a modern, efficient and sustainable infrastructure that embodies the principles of environmental responsibility and innovation, that’s ready to welcome the world to the 2026 Winter Olympics and, above all, to support the decarbonisation of the aviation sector.
