Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport

Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (Italian: Aeroporto di Olbia-Costa Smeralda) (IATA: OLB, ICAO: LIEO) is an airport in Olbia, Sardinia. It was the primary operating base for Italian airline Air Italy whose headquarters were located at the airport. It mostly handles seasonal holiday flights from destinations in Europe and is managed by Geasar S.p.A.

Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport

Aeroporto di Olbia-Costa Smeralda
Summary
Airport typePublic
Owner/OperatorGeasar S.p.A.
ServesOlbia
LocationOlbia, Italy
Elevation AMSL37 ft / 11 m
Coordinates40°53′09″N 09°31′01″E
Websitegeasar.it
Map
OLB is located in Sardinia
OLB
OLB
Location of airport in Sardinia
OLB is located in Italy
OLB
OLB
OLB (Italy)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
05/23 2,745 9,006 Concrete / asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Passengers2,978,769
Passenger change 18–19Decrease -0.7%
Aircraft movements34086
Movements change 18–19Decrease -1.4%
Source: Italian AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]
Statistics from Assaeroporti[2]

History
Terminal building and control tower
Departure gate area before refurbishment in 2020
General aviation apron

A military airfield was opened at Olbia (then Terranova Pausania) in 1921, and a seaplane base was inaugurated close to the Isola Bianca harbour in 1927, although poor loads from the island on the flights to Ostia and Cagliari led to the service's stop in Terranova being discontinued in 1929. The airfield and seaplane base were targeted by Allied bombing in World War II, and the Germans opened another airfield 4.5 miles west of the town, which was renamed Olbia in 1945.

Commercial flights gradually returned, and in 1963, the Olbia-based airline Alisarda was formed. It successfully expanded its route network, introducing jet flights in 1972, and it was renamed Meridiana in 1991. However, the introduction of jet aircraft necessitated the building of a larger airport nearer the city; the current airport was completed in 1974.

Following three years of work, a new terminal covering 42,000 square metres and capable of handling 4.5 million passengers per year, was unveiled on 6 June 2004. Costing a total of €81 million, the structure was designed by Willem Brouwer Architects and incorporated the original terminal building, which was developed into a 3000-square metre retail area. The new building has 40 check-in desks and ten boarding gates, five of which are equipped with jet bridges. It contains a wide variety of shops and restaurants, a wine bar, a small art gallery, and indoor garden areas featuring local flora.

The airport also is home to the Tourist Management department of the University of Sassari.

From 3 February to 14 March 2020, the airport closed to passenger air traffic for the refurbishment and extension of the taxiways and runway. During this period, all flights arriving and departing were cancelled.[3] The airport building remained in this period open to events of various kinds. The airport, which was initially scheduled to reopen on March 14, 2020, remained closed until June 2, as a result of the measures taken by the Italian authorities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The airport reopened on June 3.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Olbia:[4][5]

AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines Seasonal: Athens[6]
Aer Lingus Seasonal: Dublin
AeroItalia Milan–Linate, Rome–Fiumicino
Seasonal: Perugia
Air France Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle
airBaltic Seasonal: Riga
Alpavia Seasonal: Parma[7][8]
Austrian Airlines Seasonal: Vienna
British AirwaysSeasonal: London–Heathrow
Brussels AirlinesSeasonal: Brussels
Bulgaria Air Seasonal charter: Sofia[9]
Condor Seasonal: Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich
easyJet Milan–Malpensa
Seasonal: Amsterdam, Bari, Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin, Bologna, Bordeaux, Bristol, Geneva, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Lyon, Nantes, Naples, Nice, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Paris–Orly, Toulouse, Turin, Venice
Edelweiss AirSeasonal: Zürich
Eurowings Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Salzburg, Stuttgart
flydubai Seasonal: Dubai–International
Iberia Seasonal: Madrid
ITA Airways Seasonal: Trieste
Jet2.com Seasonal: Birmingham, London–Stansted, Manchester
Lübeck Air Seasonal: Lübeck
Lufthansa Seasonal: Frankfurt, Munich
Marabu Seasonal: Munich
Neos Seasonal: Bologna, Milan–Malpensa, Verona
Norwegian Air ShuttleSeasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda
Scandinavian Airlines Seasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda
SkyAlps Seasonal: Bern, Bolzano
Smartwings Seasonal: Prague
Swiss International Air Lines Seasonal: Geneva
TransaviaSeasonal: Amsterdam, Paris–Orly
VoloteaBologna, Milan–Linate, Rome–Fiumicino, Turin, Verona
Seasonal: Ancona, Barcelona, Bari, Bergamo, Bilbao, Bordeaux, Catania, Deauville, Florence, Genoa, Lille, Lyon, Madrid, Marseille, Nantes, Naples, Nice, Palermo, Paris–Orly, Pisa, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Trieste, Valencia, Venice
Vueling Seasonal: Barcelona, Florence
Wizz Air Seasonal: Milan–Malpensa, Rome–Ciampino, Warsaw–Chopin

Statistics
Annual passenger traffic at OLB airport. See Wikidata query.

Ground transportation

By car

The airport is connected to local motorways SS125 and SS729.

By bus

The following bus services operate to/from the airport.

Local buses

Local operator ASPO Olbia operates two routes to/from the airport:

  • 2 Airport-Sa Minda Noa
  • 10 Airport-Town Centre-Airport

Regional and long distance buses
  • 514 Olbia-Olbia Airport-Siniscola-Nuoro
  • 601 Santa Teresa di Gallura-Palau-Arzachena-San Pantaleo-Olbia-Olbia Airport
  • Cala Gonone-Dorgali-Orosei-La Caletta-Olbia Airport
  • Nuoro-Siniscola-Budoni-San Teodoro-Olbia Airport
  • 20 Olbia Airport-Olbia-Porto Cervo-Baja Sardinia-Hotel Stelle Marine (Costa Smeralda Shuttle)
  • 30 Olbia Airport-Olbia-Calangius-Castelsardo-Porto Torres
  • 90 Alghero-Alghero Fertilia Airport-Sassari-Olbia Airport-Olbia
  • Olbia Airport-Olbia-Arzachena-Palau-Santa Teresa di Gallura
  • Olbia-Telti
  • Cagliari-Oristano-Abbasanta-Nuoro-Siniscola-San Teodoro-Olbia Airport-Olbia-Arzachena-Palau-Santa Teresa di Gallura

References
  1. "EAD Basic - Error Page". ead.eurocontrol.int.
  2. "Traffic data 2019" (PDF). assaeroporti.com.
  3. "Sardinia's Olbia airport to close temporarily in February | Aviation Week Network". aviationweek.com. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  4. https://www.geasar.it/cms_data/contents/geasar_en/media/docs/network_summer_2019_29_03.pdf
  5. https://www.geasar.it/Cms_Data/Contents/geasar_it/Media/docs/timetable/TIMETABLE/Network-2018-20_winter.pdf
  6. "Aegean Airlines apre un volo stagionale su Olbia". 13 January 2023.
  7. "InX.aero apre la Parma – Olbia". 7 June 2023.
  8. https://www.inx.aero/
  9. "Network Summer Season 2023" (PDF).

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