Salzburg and Milan Linate airports to shut during spring and summer

The closure of Milan Linate is likely to accelerate the move by business travellers to rail

The Sound of Building: Salzburg airport is now closed until the end of May 2019 (Salzburg Airport)

Two of Europe’s most popular “city-centre” airports are closing for weeks or months this summer for runway resurfacing.

Salzburg, which is the second-busiest airport in Austria after Vienna, is now closed until 29 May 2019.

The 60-year-old concrete runway at the city's W A Mozart airport is to be rebuilt. The airport authorities say: “The complete closure of the airport allows a higher quality of execution and a longer use of the new runway.”

Salzburg airport is popular with winter-sports travellers from the UK. Up to Easter, there were regular flights from Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Gatwick, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, Luton and Manchester.

The airport is two miles southwest of the city centre, and is one of very few served by trolleybus.

It is also one of the few “Category C” airports in Europe, requiring extra training for pilots.

While the runway is closed other works will take place. But the restaurant on the first floor will remain open despite the sound of building work.

The first flight out is scheduled to be Lufthansa's 7am departure to Frankfurt on 29 May, followed by British Airways to Gatwick and Ryanair to Stansted.

In July, Milan’s most convenient airport will close for three months, affecting an estimated 2.5 million passengers.

Linate, just six miles east of the city centre, will close from 27 July to 27 October 2019 “due to runway repairs and airport restyling”.

It is normally the fifth-busiest airport in Italy. British Airways and easyJet fly to Linate frequently from Heathrow and Gatwick respectively.

The biggest airline at Linate is Alitalia, which has chronic financial problems. The Alitalia link from Linate to Rome Fiumicino is a money spinner for the Italian carrier, with nine flights each morning before 9am alone.

The temporary loss of the Milan hub is likely to accelerate the move by business travellers to rail.

Trains between Italy's two largest cities have dramatically improved, with some taking less than three hours for the 360-mile rail journey.

Some flights will switch to Milan Malpensa, 30 miles northwest of the city. But this airport is already the second-busiest in Italy after Rome Fiumicino and is under pressure.

Others will be diverted to Bergamo, 30 miles north, currently third-busiest airport in Italy. British Airways has announced a new departure from Gatwick to the airport, which is also known as Orio al Serio. Flights will begin on 1 September.

Turin airport could potentially benefit from the closure of Linate; the city has excellent rail links to Milan and many other Italian cities.

Further afield, one of the two runways at Dubai airport has closed for resurfacing, in a project due to finish on 30 May. The work is intended “to boost safety, service and capacity levels”.

A number of flights from the UK to the airport, on British Airways as well as Emirates, have been cancelled during the work.

Dubai handles far more Airbus A380 “SuperJumbo” aircraft than any other airport.