Tortolì Airport, also known as Tortolì-Arbatax airport (IATA: TTB, ICAO: LIET) is a

regional airport A domestic airport is an airport that handles only flights within the same country. Domestic airports do not have customs and immigration facilities and so cannot handle flights to or from a foreign airport. These airports often have short r ...

, located in the

Province of Nuoro The province of Nuoro (; ) is a province in the autonomous island region of Sardinia, Italy. Its capital is the city of Nuoro. It has an area of , and, , a total population of 210,972. The province is divided into 74 ''comuni'' (: ''comune''), t ...

, in central east of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It is located from

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

and from

Nuoro Nuoro ( ; ) is a city and (municipality) in central-eastern Sardinia, Italy, situated on the slopes of Mount Ortobene. It is the capital of the province of Nuoro. With a population of 36,347 (2011), it is the sixth-largest city in Sardinia. Its ...

and operated by Aliarbatax srl.

History

The airport was built in the 60's, with a grass runway, as logistical and technical support for the near Arbatax

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt ...

. The mill closed in 1986. In 1975, a asphalt runway, a hangar and a control tower were built. Between 1986 and 1990, regional airline Air Sardinia managed the airport, offering flights to

Olbia Olbia (, ; ; ) is a city and communes of Italy, commune of 61,000 inhabitants in the Italy, Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called in the Roman age, Civita in the Middle ...

Alghero Alghero (; ; ; ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian province of Sassari in the north west of the island of Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ''Aleguerium'', which is a mediaeval Latin word m ...

and Cagliari and charters outside of Sardinia. The airfield closed in 1990. In 1993, a group of local entrepreneurs built a terminal and offered seasonal charter flights (June, July, September, October) with regional airlines with aircraft such as

BAe 146 The British Aerospace 146 (also BAe 146) is a short-haul and regional airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2001. Avro International Aerospace manu ...

, Bombardier Q400 and

ATR72 The ATR 72 is a twin-engine turboprop, short-haul regional airliner developed and produced in France and Italy by aircraft manufacturer ATR. The number "72" in its name is derived from the aircraft's typical standard seating capacity of 72 pa ...

. Annual traffic reached 44,412 passengers in 1998 and 42,655 in 2004. After the runway extension to in 2008 and modernisation of the terminal in 2010, the airport reopened in 2010 for

Meridiana Meridiana Fly S.p.A., operating as Meridiana (formerly named ''Meridiana S.p.A.''), was a privately owned Italy, Italian airline headquartered in Olbia with its main base at Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport. It operated scheduled and charter flight ...

flights connecting the airport with main Italian airports in June to mid-September, and in August–October 2011 with flights to northern Italy, Switzerland an Austria. The airport closed after the departure of an ATR42 to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

on 10 October 2011. In 2021, the Industrial Consortium, owner of the Aliarbatax company holding 100% of the airport's shares, started plans to obtain authorisation from

ENAC The epithelial sodium channel (ENaC), (also known as amiloride-sensitive sodium channel) is a membrane-bound ion channel that is selectively permeable to sodium ions (). It is assembled as a heterotrimer composed of three homologous subunits α ...

to reopen the airport for

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations except for commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services for other ...

, with aircraft not exceeding

MTOW The maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) or maximum gross takeoff weight (MGTOW) or maximum takeoff mass (MTOM) of an aircraft, also known as the maximum structural takeoff weight or maximum structural takeoff mass, is the maximum weight at which the p ...

and 12 passengers, in summer 2021. Initial plans for 2022 included the airport to offer commercial flights on aircraft up to 100 seats. On 28 April 2022, ENAC gave the authorisation to reopen the airport for general aviation while plans to offer flights on 100-seat aircraft were moved into summer 2023. In mid-June 2023 the airport opened to general aviation traffic. Current plans include establishing the airport as a base for firefighting operations in the Sardinia region with the

Canadair Canadair Ltd. was a Canadian civil and military aircraft manufacturer that operated from 1944 to 1986. In 1986, its assets were acquired by Bombardier Aerospace, the aviation division of Canadian transport conglomerate Bombardier Inc. Canadai ...

aircraft, and helicopter rescue flights as well as aerospace experimentation with DASS (the Sardinian Aerospace District). No air traffic service or radio frequency are available. Pilots are required to submit PPR (Prior Permission Request, or Prior Permission Required) via a website form or phone call in advance. Contacts and operational data are available on the airport official website.

Statistics

References

Airports in Sardinia Tortolì {{Italy-airport-stub