Milan Linate Airport reopened last October after being closed since July to carry out vital maintenance work required to remain compliant with current airport safety regulations and standards.

The work included resurfacing of the 2.4 km long by 60 metre wide runway used for take-offs and landings and of the dedicated lanes used by aircraft for taxiing. Numerous Mapei products were also used to restore and seal the joints between the concrete slabs in the parking area reserved for aircraft and in the areas and lanes used by aircraft during their approach to the new runway.

To make the new joints the first step was to remove all the old bituminous sealant which, over the years, had become hard and had lost its elasticity, using hand tools and power tools. The joints which had been cleaned out perfectly without leaving traces of old bitumen were then treated with PRIMER M, a one-component primer for polyurethane sealant, while the joints that still had traces of bitumen in them were treated with PRIMER SN, an epoxy adhesion promoter.

Before applying any sealant in the joints, MAPEFOAM compressible, closed-cell, foam polyethylene cord was placed along the bottom of the joints to set the correct depth and to prevent the new sealant sticking to the bottom of the joint.

The last step was to insert MAPEFLEX PU50 SL into the joints, a special sealant designed for expansion and distribution joints in concrete paving subjected to heavy traffic and heavy loads, which is also resistant to occasional chemical aggression from the by-products of hydrocarbons.

During the three-month closure of the airport, the departure area was also refurbished. Mapei supplied systems in this part of the airport to install and grout large format ceramic tiles in the first lot of the fifteen bathrooms scheduled for the departure area.

The 240 x 120 cm tiles were bonded in place using ULTRALITE S2, a lightweight, deformable adhesive which is easy to apply by trowel and guarantees excellent yield and optimum wetting of the tiles, ensuring they form a perfect bond with the substrate. This adhesive is suitable for bonding large format tiles, including on external thermal insulation systems. Two different products were used to grout the tiles; ULTRACOLOR PLUS high performance, anti-efflorescence mortar, with water-repellent DropEffect® and mould-resistant BioBlock® technology, and KERAPOXY CQ anti-bacterial epoxy grout, certified by the University of Modena according to ISO 22196:2007 as a grouting product protected against the formation and proliferation of microorganisms.

The aim of the refurbishment work is to turn Milan Linate into a genuine City Airport and is scheduled to continue until the first half of 2021, with Mapei staff on site offering a concrete contribution towards the completion of a structure that will be both welcoming and functional.