Empty leg flights to and from Olbia

Olbia is the airport for the Costa Smeralda, the coast of granite coves and sheltered bays in north eastern Sardinia that runs from Porto Rotondo up to Baja Sardinia, with Porto Cervo at its heart and the La Maddalena islands just offshore. In summer it is also one of the busiest private aviation airports in the Mediterranean. The private terminal counted about 15,000 movements in 2024, a record, and on the busiest August days more than 220 private arrivals and departures were logged in a single day.

The other side of that story is the calendar. Roughly 85 per cent of the private traffic falls between June and September, and in winter the terminal is close to empty. For an empty leg buyer that gives Olbia a very clear shape: aircraft drop their passengers and leave rather than sit on a crowded apron, come back empty to fetch them at the end of the holiday, and in the second half of August fly south without passengers in large numbers to bring families home for the new school year.

Empty legs to and from Olbia right now

The board below shows every sector our operators have released into or out of Olbia. When Olbia itself has nothing listed, the board switches to the rest of Sardinia and southern Corsica, because Alghero, Cagliari, Tortolì and Figari across the strait each serve part of the same holiday map. Below it, a guide price list sets each regular route against the full charter cost of the same aircraft.

Where Olbia sectors come from

Almost every empty leg at Olbia grows out of one of three habits of the summer trade.

From London the flight takes about two hours and twenty minutes, within easy reach of any light jet. The business aircraft seen most often at Olbia in 2025 were the Citation XLS, the Phenom 300 and the Pilatus PC-12, each suited to four to eight people. Our route prices for London, Bristol and Manchester are based on a Challenger 604 with room for twelve, a common choice for a large family with two weeks of luggage, Guernsey on a Citation XLS+ and the other routes on an eight seat Legacy 500, so compare the rows with that difference in mind.

Olbia Airport in detail

Olbia is really two airports side by side: an airline terminal handling four million passengers a year and a private terminal with its own building and apron.

Two rows matter more than the rest. The border hours decide how late a flight from Britain can arrive, and in high summer the parking is agreed at the same time as the permission to land, never taken for granted.

Where private passengers are handled at Olbia

Private passengers at Olbia never set foot in the airline terminal. Instead they are handled at the general aviation terminal run by Eccelsa Aviation, a separate building with its own entrance, border desk and apron.

For a passenger this keeps things simple: one private building, one handler, and the car stops at the door. What changes is the season. In February the terminal is almost empty; in August it is among the busiest private terminals in Europe.

The terminal from a passenger's side

Unlike many private terminals in southern Europe, Eccelsa is built for people who may have to wait a while, with a café bar, shops, works of art and a summer patio. This is how a departure and an arrival work in practice.

The one thing worth arranging in advance is the transfer, because the road is the only part of the day that summer traffic can spoil. Inside the terminal, the rest takes care of itself.

Four rules that shape an Olbia trip

None of this is a reason to avoid Olbia. It explains why summer trips here are planned earlier than at most European airports, and why the empty sectors arrive in waves rather than a steady trickle.

What the ground costs in Olbia

Three kinds of charge sit on top of the price of the flight itself.

The passenger tax is the one worth working out. Each passenger owes it on every charter sector that departs from or lands in Italy, and the operator collects it and pays it to the Italian state. The distance used is the great circle distance plus 95 kilometres. On that measure Biggin Hill, London City, Farnborough, Gatwick, Southampton, Jersey and Guernsey all fall under 1,500 kilometres from Olbia, while Luton, Stansted, Oxford, Bristol and every airport in Wales, the Midlands, the North, Scotland and on the island of Ireland fall over it. For a party of six flying out and back, that is the difference between 1,200 and 2,400 euros, so ask the operator which band applies to your pair of airports.

On the British side, Air Passenger Duty applies only to the flight out of Britain. In the 2026 to 2027 tax year a jet of 20 tonnes or more, such as the Challenger 604, pays the higher rate of 142 GBP a head for a European destination, while a lighter jet such as the Legacy 500 pays the standard rate of 32 GBP until April 2027, when the higher rate is due to reach every private jet of 5.7 tonnes or more. Sardinia adds nothing of its own at the airport: the regional charge on visiting private aircraft that the island introduced in 2006 was ruled contrary to EU law by the European Court of Justice in 2009.

Alghero, Cagliari, Figari and the other airports nearby

Olbia covers the north east of Sardinia. For the west coast, the south, the wild east or a few days in Corsica, another airport may be closer, and in high summer some of them are also where aircraft wait.

From the airport to Porto Cervo, Porto Rotondo and La Maddalena

Olbia Airport sits on the edge of the town, and the Costa Smeralda begins twenty minutes to the north. The times below are for a car outside the peak; in July and August allow extra on afternoons and at weekends.

For Porto Cervo in high summer, the helicopter is the obvious alternative. From the base in the Eccelsa building, Elicompany reaches the heliport at Porto Cervo, a few minutes from the marina and the Pitrizza, in about ten minutes, with Cavallo, Bonifacio and Porto-Vecchio in Corsica eighteen to twenty minutes away and Cagliari about fifty minutes. Elicompany is also certified to land on a yacht deck when needed. Italy's passenger tax covers helicopter charters too, and because 95 kilometres are added to every distance, even the short hop to Porto Cervo counts as a 100 euro sector for each passenger. By road, a private car from the airport to Porto Cervo costs roughly 115 to 260 euros depending on the vehicle, and a minibus for twelve about 380 euros.

Popular routes between the UK and Olbia, and which way they run empty

Every row gives a typical figure for a single released sector, and that figure pays for the entire cabin, however many seats you fill. Booked outright on your own dates, the same aircraft would cost about two and a half times the figure shown, and the charter column in the price list under the board gives the exact number. Flight times are for the time in the air; allow roughly half an hour more at each end.

Olbia sectors follow the school year more closely than almost any other destination on our board, because so few people fly there outside the summer. Scottish schools break up at the end of June and go back in the middle of August, while English and Welsh schools break up in the second half of July and return in early September. The southbound empty sectors that collect families therefore peak in mid August for Edinburgh and Glasgow and around the August bank holiday for London, and the northbound ones come in the first days of each holiday, when aircraft that have just delivered a family head straight home.

Online calculator

If you want to see what your route would cost as a standard charter, so you have something to measure an empty leg against, use the calculator below. Fill in the airports, the dates and the number of passengers, add any preference on aircraft type, and we will send a written calculation by email or messenger. Please check your contact details carefully so that we can reply quickly.

The figure the calculator returns is an estimate for planning. The firm quote comes back from our consultants with the cost broken out line by line, and the price agreed there is the price written into the contract.

If you would rather skip the arithmetic, send us the route and the dates instead and a consultant will come back with both numbers, the charter price and any empty leg that fits.

Arriving in Olbia from the UK

Sardinia is part of Italy and of the Schengen area, so a flight from Britain to Olbia crosses an external EU border, and Italian border police and customs officers check it inside the private terminal.

• Passport. Border officers look at two dates. The issue date may be no more than ten years old when you land at Olbia, and the expiry date must fall at least three months after your planned exit from the Schengen area. Days spent in Italy draw on the same allowance of 90 in any 180 as time in France, Spain and the other Schengen states.
• Entry/Exit System. Italy records British visitors in the EU system that replaced passport stamps: a facial image and, for anyone aged twelve or over, fingerprints at the first crossing, then a quick check of the stored record on later trips. It has applied at every Schengen border since April 2026.
• ETIAS. Not required yet. In July 2026 the launch was put back to 2027; once it starts, British visitors aged 18 to 70 will pay 20 euros for an authorisation valid for three years or until the passport expires, and younger and older travellers will get one free of charge.
• Customs on arrival. Coming from a country outside the EU, adults have a duty free allowance for tobacco and alcohol, and gifts or other purchases worth more than 430 euros in total must be declared. Italian customs also expect a declaration for 10,000 euros or more in cash, and they will take away British cheese, ham or milk found in the luggage.
• Going on to Corsica. France is in the Schengen area too, so a hop from Olbia to Figari or the ferry from Santa Teresa to Bonifacio involves no second full border check, although French officers do carry out identity checks at the ports from time to time.
• Flying home. Landing in Great Britain, each adult may bring 42 litres of beer, 18 litres of wine, 4 litres of spirits and 200 cigarettes, plus other goods worth up to 270 GBP, but no meat or dairy products from the EU. From 1 October 2026 sparkling wine counts towards the 18 litres and cider towards the 42. Guests in your party who hold other nationalities may need a UK electronic travel authorisation to board the return flight, so check their status well before the last day.
• Taxes. Air Passenger Duty on the flight out of Britain, the Italian passenger tax on each flight into and out of Italy, and the local tourist tax for every night in Olbia or Arzachena.

Empty leg calendar for Olbia, month by month

Olbia's year has one long peak and a very quiet winter, and the sectors released to us follow the same curve.

For value, look at the second half of August for flights south and at the start of July for flights north, when the most sectors appear. For the easiest trip, choose June or September: the weather is warm, the apron has room, and a charter costs less than at the peak.

Three situations, three answers

Flying to Olbia with a dog or a cat

For the journey out, the paperwork is the same as for anywhere in the EU since the change of 22 April 2026: a microchip, a rabies vaccination given at least 21 days before travel, and an animal health certificate signed by an official vet no more than ten days before the flight, because EU pet passports issued to people who live in Britain no longer count. Italy has rules of its own once you land. A national ordinance, renewed every year since 2013, requires a lead no longer than 1.5 metres in towns and public places and a muzzle carried at all times, to be fitted if an official asks or if the situation calls for it. Many Sardinian beaches keep dogs off in summer outside marked dog beaches, and British vets generally advise protection against the sand flies that spread leishmaniasis around the Mediterranean. Ask us to confirm with the handler that the pet check can be done at Olbia on the day you land.

The return needs more planning. Great Britain only accepts dogs, cats and ferrets flown in by operators approved for the route, and a vet must treat a dog against tapeworm between one and five days before it lands in Britain. Olbia has several veterinary practices; book the appointment when you book the flight, and mention the animal in your first message so that we only put forward operators who can carry it.

Questions about flying private to Olbia

Call +44 7857 574938 , message the same number on WhatsApp , or write to flight@empty-leg.co.uk . Say where on the island you will stay, which days suit you, the size of the party and any bulky kit, and a consultant will send the matching sectors together with a charter quote for comparison.