Olbia–Milan by private jet:
one hour and five minutes.
273 nautical miles, 506 kilometres in a straight line. It is the island's most requested route, and the one where the difference shows most clearly: not in the flight time, which is short for anyone, but in what happens before and after — the apron at Olbia in August, and an arrival airport in Milan that does not take long parking.
On this distance the category
changes the comfort, not the clock.
Five hundred kilometres is short for any business aircraft: between the smallest jet and the largest there are about ten minutes in it, in the air. The real time is gained on the ground — private terminal, no queues, boarding just before departure — and that is what decides whether you are in Milan for lunch or for dinner.
of great-circle distance between Olbia and Milan Linate: 506 kilometres. The route actually flown is a little longer, because it follows the airways and not the straight line.
is the reference flight time. Malpensa is slightly further — 286 nautical miles — and costs a few minutes more, not an hour.
is the time it normally takes from arriving at the private terminal to take-off. It is not a contractual promise: it is what happens when the paperwork is in order and no one has kept you waiting.
We will not give you a figure with a date attached.
We will tell you what it depends on.
A price written on a page is out of date within twenty-four hours: it depends on which aircraft is free that day and where it is when you call. What does not change, and what almost no one puts in writing beforehand, are the items below.
| Item | How it works |
|---|---|
| State tax on air taxispayable by the passenger | €100 per person, per leg. It is an Italian State tax, due for every passenger on every leg departing from or arriving in Italy. There are three bands: €10 up to 100 km, €100 up to 1,500 km, €200 beyond that. The distance is measured in a straight line plus 95 km, so Olbia–Milan falls into the €100 band. A return trip is two legs: €200 each. The carrier collects it and pays it to the State. |
| Airport chargesprivate flight | For private flights, landing and departure charges are doubled by law compared with a commercial flight. It is an item that appears on the invoice and does not depend on who arranges the flight. |
| Positioningthe item that moves the price most | If the aircraft is already in Sardinia, you pay for your flight. If it has to come and collect you from Milan, Nice or Geneva, you pay for that leg as well. This is why the same route can cost very different figures two days apart — and why it pays to ask early. |
| Timingnight and high season | Ground handling at Olbia costs more outside daytime hours, and in high season aircraft parking is charged from the first two hours. These are modest figures next to the flight, but they explain why a same-day return sometimes works out better than a night on the ground. |
| Baggage and skisnot a detail | The hold, not the seats, is what changes aircraft category most often. Golf clubs, skis, pushchairs, a dog in a carrier: tell us before, not after. |
Three options that actually work
on this route.
Neither airport imposes limits that rule out a category: the choice comes down to how many of you there are, how much you are carrying and how much cabin space is worth to you.
Four to six people with normal luggage. Over five hundred kilometres it is the most efficient choice: it flies the route without effort and costs less than anything else. The limit is the hold, not the range.
Six to eight people, a cabin you can stand up in or nearly, a proper hold. This is the category you choose when there are week-long suitcases, golf bags or equipment, or when the cabin is a place to work.
It makes sense on this route for two reasons only: there are more than eight of you, or Milan is a stop and you carry on from there. For Olbia–Milan alone it is more aircraft than you need.
The two ends have different rules.
The Milan one surprises almost everybody.
| Airport | Runway | What you need to know |
|---|---|---|
| Olbia Costa SmeraldaLIEO / OLB | 2.745 × 45 m | Open 24 hours a day, all year round, with no night flying ban. Dedicated private terminal with police and customs on site, less than ten minutes from the centre. Every private flight needs prior permission, which the ground handler arranges on your behalf. |
| Milano LinateLIML / LIN | 2.442 × 60 m | Separate general aviation terminal, about eight kilometres from the centre. Formally the airport is open 24 hours, but allocatable runway capacity is zero between 23:00 and 6:00: in practice you fly between six in the morning and eleven at night. Positioning arrivals between 22:00 and 6:40 have to be confirmed by the airport operator, and long parking is not allowed. |
| Milano MalpensaLIMC / MXP | 2 × 3.920 m | Dedicated business terminal and 24/7 operation: it is the right answer when the timing does not fit the Linate window, or when the aircraft has to stay put for a few days. It costs you the ground transfer, forty-eight kilometres. |
| Milano BergamoLIME / BGY | 2.874 × 45 m | Open 24/7, with reduced but not zero capacity at night. A useful third option if you are heading east. |
The three things that happen in August,
and how we see them coming.
In 2024 Olbia recorded around 15,000 general aviation movements, 85% of them between June and September: over 4,200 in August alone, more than 220 a day at the peaks, with days when 120 aircraft were on the apron at the same time. These are the airport operator's numbers, not ours. Here is what they mean for you.
When there is no more room at Olbia, the aircraft drops you off and repositions elsewhere — often to Alghero Fertilia, where a specific agreement is in place, or to Cagliari. Nothing changes for you except that the return has to be planned a little further ahead: we will tell you in good time, before departure and not on the day you fly back.
A dinner that runs late and a return asked for at midnight do not fit Linate. There are two real options: go earlier, or move to Malpensa or Bergamo, which are open all night. We tell you when you ask, not when it is too late.
A storm over the Po Valley or the mistral over the Tyrrhenian moves a departure by half an hour, rarely more. If the delay grows beyond three quarters of an hour we call you: we would rather tell you before you are already in the car to the airport.
From Linate to the centre
is eight kilometres.
The chauffeured car waits at the foot of the steps, on the apron, not outside the terminal. The transfer from Linate to central Milan is measured in minutes, not hours; from Malpensa it is forty-eight kilometres and the time depends on the traffic, which in the afternoon is never light.
The figures we give you for the car are indicative and are confirmed with the best quote at the time of booking: they change with the hour, the class of vehicle and the number of people. The Duomo, La Scala, Milano Centrale or a villa on the lake are different destinations, and have to be quoted as such.
Four pieces of information, and we call you back.
Route, date, how many people, how much luggage. With those four things we check real availability and come back to you, usually within two hours, with the options and the operator's quote. If you also need the car or a helicopter for the last leg, it goes into the same reply.