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
Location of airport in Sardinia
OLB
OLB (Italy)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
05/23 2,445 8,025 Concrete / asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Passengers2,978,769
Passenger change 18–19 -0.7%
Aircraft movements34086
Movements change 18–19 -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

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
Air France Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle
airBaltic Seasonal: Riga (resumes 22 May 2021)[6]
AlitaliaMilan–Linate, Rome–Fiumicino
Seasonal: Bologna, Genoa, Naples, Pisa
Austrian Airlines Seasonal: Vienna
Blue Air Turin (begins 30 March 2021)
Seasonal: Bucharest (begins 1 June 2021)[7]
British AirwaysSeasonal: London–Heathrow
Brussels AirlinesSeasonal: Brussels
Condor Seasonal: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Zürich (begins 1 May 2021)[8]
Corendon Airlines Europe Seasonal: Düsseldorf (begins 3 May 2021),[9] Hannover, Nuremberg
DATSeasonal: Catania
easyJetLondon–Gatwick, Milan–Malpensa
Seasonal: Amsterdam, Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin, Bordeaux,[10] Bristol, Geneva, London–Luton, Lyon, Manchester, Nantes, Naples, Nice, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Paris–Orly, Toulouse, Venice
Edelweiss AirSeasonal: Zürich
Enter AirSeasonal charter: Katowice, Poznań, Warsaw–Chopin, Wrocław[11]
Eurowings Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Salzburg, Stuttgart
Helvetic Airways Seasonal charter: Zürich
Iberia Seasonal: Madrid
LOT Polish Airlines Seasonal: Katowice (begins 2 June 2021),[12] Warsaw–Chopin
Lufthansa Seasonal: Frankfurt, Munich
Neos Seasonal: Milan–Malpensa, Verona
Norwegian Air ShuttleSeasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda
People's Seasonal charter: Vienna
S7 Airlines Seasonal: Moscow–Domodedovo
Scandinavian Airlines Seasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda
Smartwings Seasonal: Bratislava, Prague
Smartwings Poland Seasonal charter: Katowice,[13] Poznań,[13] Warsaw–Chopin[13]
Swiss International Air Lines Seasonal: Geneva
Transavia Amsterdam
Transavia FranceSeasonal: Paris–Orly
TUI Airways Seasonal: London–Gatwick, Manchester
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels
VoloteaBologna, Turin, Verona
Seasonal: Ancona, Bari, Bordeaux, Genoa, Marseille, Nantes, Naples, Palermo, Pescara, Pisa, Strasbourg, Trieste, Venice

Ground Transportation

By Car

the airport is connected by motorway 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
  • General aviation apron
    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

Media related to Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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