Venice Airport’s owner plans EUR2 billion investments; high on the sustainability the city needs

Numerous airports around the world are constructed on land reclaimed from the sea and others are intended. Most of them have their structural issues, but in the case of Venice it is not so much the airport as the city that is sinking into the Adriatic Sea, while its population decreases and tourist numbers increase.

SAVE, which owns Marco Polo Airport in Venice, Italy, has announced a major upgrade of the airport facility.

The city suffers from severe environmental issues. The land is boggy, and the city is slowly sinking. Many buildings do not have proper foundations, and they are gradually subsiding into the waters of the lagoon. Venice's historic buildings are crisscrossed by hundreds of canals and the ground floors of many of Venice's buildings are now uninhabitable. There are regular flooding events, and tourist walking trails are likely to change on a daily basis.

The long term outlook for the city may not be promising, but that hasn't stopped the Marco Polo Airport's owner and operator, SAVE, from designing a master plan that would increase capacity to 21mppa, with a high emphasis on sustainability.