London, Oslo, Nice, Rome, Parma, Bergamo. And then there's Paris, Naples, Manchester. At Olbia airport, delayed flights far outnumber on-time ones. In the summer months, the Gallura airport becomes the hub of the world of trolleys and sunglasses, and passenger traffic is almost tenfold compared to winter. A single hiccup can transform a normal wait at the gates into a harrowing obstacle course.

But the island's other airports are also operating at full capacity, and the risk of overshooting is just around the corner. There are days, in this record-breaking summer—the region expects 20 million tourists by the end of the year—when two out of three flights depart well after the scheduled time. Daily monitoring by the website Flightradar24.com shows that in recent days, 67% of flights at Olbia airport have been delayed. Last Sunday, this percentage reached a staggering 70%. Things aren't much better in Cagliari, where the acceleration in aircraft and passenger traffic in recent weeks is evident. Here too, delayed departures are the majority, accounting for 59% (this figure is from last weekend). Alghero airport is smiling—so to speak—where in recent days the percentage of flights that haven't respected the flight schedule has fluctuated between 35 and 40%.