Milan, 10 January 2013 – Malpensa Airport expands. The new concourse is ready and will be inaugurated on 13 January with the Malpensa Party Day, on which this modern, elegant and brightly lit structure will be unveiled and will start serving new aircraft and passengers.  The opening of the new 35,000 m2 concourse (of which 3,000 are dedicated to VIP lounges) will increase the terminal’s capacity by 50 percent.  With the new concourse, Malpensa will feature 41 loading bridges, an absolute first for an Italian airport, and will be able to accommodate simultaneously two Airbus A380s, boarding passengers through three loading bridges (one for the upper deck and two for the main deck). Of these, one connects the airline's VIP lounge directly with the aircraft without having to go through the gate.   The new loading bridges are built using leading-edge technology, based on a moving mechanism designed to adjust their height so that they can serve either of two different concourse levels according to need, maximizing flexibility of use. A similar structure is only found at New York’s JFK Airport. With the new concourse in operation, all non-Schengen flights move to the new facility, while both Schengen and non-Schengen flights are operated from Satellite B. Concourse A will be dedicated to Schengen flights. The materials used for the new building’s coatings include zinc-titanium, GRC (glass reinforced concrete) and porcelain steel. The studded steel and glass interior walls are modular for better management of their use (advertising, information to the public, etc.). The expanded area features new design check-in desks, built with studded steel panels and a curved top; the lobby floors are marble. Both the interior and the exterior were designed by Gregorio Caccia Dominioni. The executive design was completed directly by SEA with Consorzio Malpensa Construction. Works to build the new concourse started in 2009; the entire facility will be operational by 2015 with a total surface area of 120,000 m2, bringing Terminal 1 to a capacity of up to 30 million passengers. The overall investment for the completion of Terminal 1 amounts to approximately 300 million euro. Key figures relating to the quantities of materials used for the new concourse: 2000 tonnes of steel for the structures 1000 tonnes of marble (Montorfano, Serizzo, Nero d’Africa granite) for the floors (20,000 m2)