From the US to the Costa Smeralda, the number of flights will double in 2027 with United Airlines

The flight route between Olbia and New York is not only up and running but is set to double. From next season, it will be possible to travel daily from Gallura to the US because, in addition to the route operated by Delta Airlines four times a week, another will be added: three days a week, passengers will be able to fly with United Airlines.

A decision which, as Geasar – the company managing Olbia Airport – points out, ‘demonstrates the interest in Sardinia’. The figures from the season that has just ended serve to confirm and justify this decision. ‘From May to October, 32,000 people travelled – as Geasar points out – with an 80 per cent load factor’. Passengers included not only Americans keen to visit the Costa Smeralda, but also Sardinians wishing to travel to New York. These positive figures confirm the international appeal of the airport in north-eastern Sardinia.

With the 2026 season now over, plans for the next routes are already being drawn up at Olbia Airport. Among the new developments, in addition to the confirmation of the route operated by Delta Airlines, is the arrival of United Airlines, which will operate three weekly flights from 27 May to 22 September. This decision is part of an expansion strategy, with the route running between Olbia and Newark/New York (EWR), which, as the airport management company emphasises, ‘underscores the central role and international focus of the Gallura airport’.

As highlighted by the Cipnes research centre in its report, which emphasises the importance of the US market for north-eastern Sardinia, ‘the New York–Olbia route does not merely connect two airports; it links Sardinia to a network of economic, industrial and financial relations that can influence the island’s ability to attract foreign direct investment, promote exports of Sardinian industrial products and forge new partnerships with international operators and investors’. Furthermore, according to an analysis by the CIPNES Gallura Uniolbia research centre, in 2024 the 26 municipalities of the north-east recorded 141,000 tourist visits from the US. This figure, according to the research centre, is the highest in the entire region.

The figures released by the regional government also bear out the interest shown by Americans in Sardinia. ‘Over the last two years, tourism from the United States to Sardinia has shown a striking surge, with a growth rate of 80 per cent, which in Gallura exceeded 93 per cent,’ the regional authorities emphasise. The United States is now the region’s ninth-largest tourist market and the largest outside Europe, confirming the growing interest in the destination.”