Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport

Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport Aeroporto di Olbia-Costa Smeralda
IATA: OLB – ICAO: LIEO
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner/Operator	Geasar S.p.A.
Serves	Olbia
Location	Olbia, Italy
Hub for	Meridiana
Elevation AMSL	37 ft / 11 m
Coordinates	40°53′09″N 09°31′01″E / 40.88583°N 9.51694°ECoordinates: 40°53′09″N 09°31′01″E / 40.88583°N 9.51694°E
Website	www.geasar.it/eng/airport
Map
OLB Location of airport in Sardinia
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 05/23 2,445 8,025 Concrete / Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 2,240,016 Passenger change 14–15 +5.3% Aircraft movements 28,272 Movements change 14–15 -1%
Source: Italian AIP at EUROCONTROL[1] Statistics from Assaeroporti[2]

Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport (Italian: Aeroporto di Olbia-Costa Smeralda) (IATA: OLB, ICAO: LIEO) is an airport in Olbia, Sardinia. It is the primary operating base for Italian airline Meridiana whose headquarters are located at the airport. It mostly handles seasonal holiday flights from destinations in Europe.

Olbia Airport is managed by Geasar S.p.A.

History

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 3 years of work, a new terminal covering 42,000 square metres and capable of handling 4.5 million passengers per year was unveiled on June 6, 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 is home to the Tourist Management department of the University of Sassari (North Sardinia).

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations
airBaltic	Seasonal: Riga
Air Berlin	Düsseldorf, Munich Seasonal: Berlin–Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Nuremberg, Stuttgart, Zürich
Air Vallée	Seasonal: Pescara (begins 11 June 2016),[3] Rimini (begins 16 June 2016)[4]
Alitalia operated by Darwin Airline	Seasonal: Pisa (begins 12 July 2016)[5]
Alitalia operated by Alitalia CityLiner	Seasonal: Milan-Malpensa (begins 18 July 2016)[6]
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna[7]
BH Air	Seasonal charter: Sofia[8]
British Airways	Seasonal: London–Heathrow[9]
Brussels Airlines	Seasonal: Brussels
easyJet	Milan–Malpensa Seasonal: Amsterdam,[10] Berlin–Schönefeld, Bristol, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Lyon (begins 1 July 2016),[11] Manchester (begins 13 June 2016),[12] Naples,[13] Nice, Paris-Charles de Gaulle (begins 2 July 2016),[11] Paris–Orly, Toulouse (begins 2 July 2016),[11] Venice-Marco Polo[14]
easyJet Switzerland	Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva
Edelweiss Air	Seasonal: Zürich
Etihad Regional operated by Darwin Airline	Seasonal: Lugano, Geneva[15]
Germanwings	Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Stuttgart
Helvetic Airways	Seasonal: Bern
Iberia operated by Air Nostrum	Seasonal: Madrid
Jetairfly[16]	Seasonal: Brussels
Lufthansa Regional operated by Air Dolomiti	Seasonal: Munich
Lufthansa Regional operated by Lufthansa CityLine	Seasonal: Frankfurt
Meridiana	Bologna, Milan–Linate, Naples, Rome–Fiumicino Seasonal: Bari, Bergamo, Brescia (begins 24 July 2016),[17] Brussels, Catania, Florence, Genoa, Kiev–Boryspil, London–Gatwick, Madrid (begins 25 July 2016),[18] Milan–Malpensa, Marseille (begins 4 June 2016),[19] Moscow–Domodedovo, Nice, Tel Aviv–Ben Gurion, Turin, Venice, Verona
Mistral Air	Seasonal charter: Mostar
Niki	Seasonal: Graz (begins 15 June 2016),[20] Salzburg, Vienna
Nordwind Airlines	Seasonal charter: Novosibirsk
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Seasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo–Gardermoen, Stockholm–Arlanda
People's Viennaline	Seasonal charter: Vienna
SkyWork Airlines	Seasonal: Bern
SmartWings operated by Travel Service Airlines[21]	Seasonal: Prague
SmartWings operated by Travel Service Slovakia[21]	Seasonal: Bratislava
Swiss International Air Lines	Seasonal: Geneva
Thomas Cook Airlines	Seasonal charter: London–Gatwick
Thomas Cook Airlines Belgium	Seasonal: Brussels[22]
Transavia	Seasonal: Amsterdam
Transavia France	Seasonal charter: Paris–Orly
Volotea	Seasonal: Bari (begins 27 May 2016),[23] Bordeaux, Genoa, Nantes, Naples, Palermo, Strasbourg, Turin, Venice, Verona (begins 27 May 2016)[24]
Vueling	Seasonal: Barcelona, Florence
XL Airways France	Seasonal: Lille[25] Seasonal charter: Strasbourg, Brest

References

1. "EAD Basic - Error Page". ead.eurocontrol.int.
2. "Statistiche Dicembre 2014". assaeroporti.com.
3. http://www.abruzzoairport.com/news.aspx?lnk=Yvf3nhsj/i4=&lang=it
4. "Fly with us - Air Vallee". Air Vallee.
5. "Alitalia - Biglietti aerei - Voli nazionali e internazionali". alitalia.com.
6. "L'ad Alitalia a Cagliari Rafforziamo i voli per la Sardegna. Aerei anche a Olbia - Regione - la Nuova Sardegna". la Nuova Sardegna. 28 April 2016.
7. Austrian Airlines Vienna-Olbia
8. "Search direct flights". sofia-airport.bg.
9. "British Airways, voli estivi su Londra da Cagliari e Olbia". TravelQuotidiano.
10. "easyJet announces six new routes from Amsterdam and strengthens its links between The Netherlands and the UK". EasyJet. 14 October 2014.
11. "Book direct for our guaranteed cheapest prices - easyJet". easyjet.com.
12. "easyJet Adds New Manchester Routes in S16". airlineroute.net.
13. "New and dropped routes". Easyjet.
14. "easyJet to Launch Venice Base in 2016". airlineroute.net.
15. "Voli da Ginevra, Lugano, Zurigo, Cagliari, Firenze, Olbia, Roma, Venezia, Biarritz, Ibiza e Valencia - Etihad Regional". Etihad regional.
16. "Jetairfly Flight Plan". Jetairfly.
17. "Meridiana - Trova ed acquista il tuo volo". meridiana.it.
18. "Meridiana - Trova ed acquista il tuo volo". meridiana.it.
19. "Meridianafly S16 New European Routes". airlineroute.net.
20. "NIKI Plans New European Markets in S16". airlineroute.net.
21. "SmartWings Contact". smartwings.com.
22. Thomas Cook Belgium begins Brussels Olbia service S14
23. "Volotea Plans Additional New Routes in S16". airlineroute.net.
24. "VOLOTEA - Find & Book Cheap Flights Online". Volotea. 5 March 2016.
25. "XL Airways France Adds New Lille – Olbia Flights in S16". airlineroute.net.

External links

Media related to Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website
• Accident history for OLB at Aviation Safety Network