Quick Turn at Olbia Costa Smeralda (LIEO)

What changes at Olbia Costa Smeralda in summer?

Olbia sits at 37 feet above sea level, three kilometres from the town centre, with a single runway—05/23, 2,745 metres—and handling agents present at the airport including Eccelsa Aviation, AviaVIP and Sky Services. Eccelsa operates the General Aviation Terminal, a 4,000-square-metre facility opened in 2009 with an aircraft-side wing that shelters frames up to B737 or A320 size. The terminal runs 07:00 to 22:00 local; paid extensions are available on request.

Traffic is overwhelmingly seasonal. July and August see 3,000 to 4,000 movements a month, almost all driven by Costa Smeralda tourism. Most airline routes close in October. During the peak, the airport is slot-coordinated: general aviation must file prior permission to operate with the airport operator. Avgas waits can stretch to 90 minutes from June through September, and Olbia Ground extends its hours to 06:00–22:00 UTC for the summer window, 1 June to 30 September.

For a quick turn, this means three things. First, apron congestion: stands fill early, and any delay in vacating costs time and money. Second, heat and salt: airframes bake on the ramp under Mediterranean sun, and the coastal location loads the leading edges and belly with salt residue that accelerates corrosion if left between legs. Third, tight ground windows: when you have 90 minutes between blocks and 45 of those are eaten by refuelling and slot paperwork, the reset has to start the moment the pax step off.

What does the quick-turn service cover at LIEO?

We vacuum the cabin floor, wipe all hard surfaces—galley counters, armrests, tray tables, seatbelts—and empty the bins. Lavatory gets a full reset: bowl, sink, mirror, bins emptied and restocked with your supplies. Galley is tidied, surfaces wiped, and trash removed. Cockpit and cabin windows are cleaned on the inside. Outside, we perform a waterless wipe of the nose cone, cockpit glass, leading edges, engine nacelles and the entry area—the zones passengers and ramp staff see. We remove all trash, and if requested we neutralise cabin odour with a light scent treatment.

The service does not include a full exterior wash, polishing, or deep galley degreasing. It is a reset, not a detail. If the airframe has been sitting overnight with dew or if there is visible soiling beyond light dust, we will note it in the photo report and recommend a rinseless wash or decon on the next longer ground stop.

Duration depends on the aircraft. A light jet takes 45 minutes with a two-person team. A super-midsize or large-cabin airframe runs 75 to 90 minutes. We coordinate start time with your handler or directly with the captain to ensure we are off the aircraft before the next departure slot.

How do you handle airside access and coordination at Olbia?

Terso holds its own airside passes for Italian airports and works directly with the handler on stand assignment and GPU availability. At Olbia, coordination tightens in summer: the apron is busy, stands turn quickly, and any service has to dovetail with refuelling, catering and passenger flow. We confirm the turnaround time and stand location as soon as the inbound flight is wheels-down, and our team is staged airside or at the FBO ready to move.

If you are using Eccelsa's terminal, we coordinate through their ops desk. If you are on a remote stand or using one of the other handlers, we liaise directly with your ground contact. Either way, the goal is the same: be on the aircraft within ten minutes of door-open, complete the work, and be clear before the next pax board. We carry our own supplies—microfibre, rinseless product, vacuum, trash bags—so we do not rely on FBO stock or wait for equipment.

Photo documentation is standard. We shoot before-and-after images of the cabin, galley, lavatory and exterior zones, timestamp them, and send the set to the email or WhatsApp number you nominate. If the tech log requires a service entry, we provide the wording and our company stamp.

Why does the coastal climate at Olbia matter for a quick turn?

Olbia sits on the northeast coast of Sardinia, less than a kilometre from the sea. Salt-laden air settles on every surface, and in summer the ramp temperature regularly exceeds 35°C. The combination bakes salt into the paint, especially on the leading edges, nacelles and belly. If the aircraft has flown through coastal moisture or morning dew, that salt film bonds harder with every hour of UV exposure.

A quick-turn wipe addresses the visible deposits—the nose, the entry area, the leading edges—before they harden. We use a rinseless product that lifts salt and dust without water runoff, which matters at Olbia because summer water restrictions sometimes apply and because a dry method keeps the apron clean and the turnaround fast. The wipe is not a substitute for a full decon, but it buys you time: it removes the surface layer that would otherwise etch into the clearcoat by the end of the day.

Inside, heat and passenger turnover create their own problems. Cabins that have sat closed on the ramp for an hour smell stale. Galley bins that were emptied in the morning are full again by the afternoon leg. A quick reset—air circulation, bins emptied, surfaces wiped, light scent—makes the cabin presentable without the cost or time of a deep clean.

Should I book a recurring schedule or call on demand at Olbia?

It depends on your operation. If you are running a managed fleet with regular rotations into Olbia—say, two or three legs a week through July and August—a standing schedule makes sense. We block the time, hold the crew, and you simply confirm 24 hours ahead. The rate is lower, the coordination is smoother, and you do not compete for availability on peak days when half the European charter fleet is turning through LIEO.

If your Olbia stops are opportunistic—one-off charters, owner trips, positioning legs—on-demand works fine. We ask for 12 hours' notice during the summer peak, less in shoulder season. You send the registration, inbound time, handler and stand if known, and we quote and confirm. Payment is by invoice after the service, with photos and a summary sent within an hour of completion.

Recurring schedules also let us track the airframe over time. If we see the same super-midsize every Thursday and notice that the belly is accumulating residue or the cabin is showing wear in the same high-touch areas, we flag it in the report and recommend a deeper intervention on a longer ground stop. That kind of continuity is harder to maintain with ad-hoc bookings, though we keep records for any aircraft we have serviced before.

What documentation do you provide after a quick turn?

Every service closes with a timestamped photo set: cabin before and after, galley, lavatory, cockpit glass, and exterior zones we have wiped. The images go to the email or mobile number you provide, usually within 30 to 60 minutes of completion. If you need a formal entry for the tech log, we supply the text and our company details for the captain to transcribe or for us to enter directly if the log is digital and accessible.

The photo record serves two purposes. First, it gives the flight department or charter ops a visual confirmation that the work was done to standard, which matters when the crew is new or when the client is particular. Second, it creates a service history: if the same airframe returns to Olbia a week later and there is a question about a stain or a scratch, we can pull the prior set and show what the condition was at the last turnaround.

We do not upload to third-party platforms or require you to log into a portal. The images come as a compressed attachment or a shared album link, and you file them however your operation tracks maintenance and appearance records. If you need a formal invoice with VAT breakdown or a certificate of service for your SMS, we provide that on request, usually within 24 hours.