Corfu LGKR - Airport Monopoly; extortionate GA charges

The thing is that Greek GA is more or less finished (just a few dozen planes flying, AFAICT) and they just avoid the fraport-trashed airports. And other GA going into Greece has done their due diligence and is either flying in via LGIO or LGST, or is willing to take the ~€400 fraport-hit once and then they fly suitably internally. So nobody is putting up much pressure.

Mooney_Driver wrote:

I had a key moment of realisation many years ago when taking part in negotiations with the board of a large airport which was all set to ban GA by any means possible. Aeroclub, AOPA, local businesses, others, all got together to make a presentation to the directors board which they patiently watched for the better part of 2 hours, only to get up, thanking us for our effort and leaving the room stating, “nevertheless, it is our opinion that GA has no place on our airport. Have a nice day folks”.

Let me guess… That sounds like ZRH. At least they are still not rid of GA yet and the fees are somehow still ‘acceptable’ for guests. Maybe their secret wet dreams are a huge class A TMA+CTR, just for them. The strict VFR slot regime is definitely not welcoming.

I feel a wave is going through Europe these days. Salzburg, Düsseldorf, Billund, Zadar, Corfu… The list goes on with airports that highly increase their fees for GA, or maybe want to eliminate them completely.

What does the mother of all Fraport airports EDDF cost currently? Still around 600€?

What does the mother of all Fraport airports EDDF cost currently? Still around 600€?

I know someone who landed there a few months back (on a diversion) in an SEP. About 1400€ in total.

Frans wrote:

I feel a wave is going through Europe these days. Salzburg, Düsseldorf, Billund, Zadar, Corfu… The list goes on with airports that highly increase their fees for GA, or maybe want to eliminate them completely.

Sitting at Zell am See lately I thought that probably in the future the best feature of an airport will be a short runway. This makes commercial jet traffic more or less impossible and keeps the airport usable for GA.

Frans wrote:

Let me guess… That sounds like ZRH.

Nope, actually it was in Geneva.

Frans wrote:

At least they are still not rid of GA yet and the fees are somehow still ‘acceptable’ for guests. Maybe their secret wet dreams are a huge class A TMA+CTR, just for them. The strict VFR slot regime is definitely not welcoming.

ZRH has pulled the plug on stationed GA via outrageous parking fees. And I don’t see that a lot of small GA still comes here, I drive past the Sectors 1 and 3 regularly and very rarely see airplanes below biz jets parked there. ZRH is pretty much done with GA. The only ones still holding the fort are MFGZ who have their own hangar and some other people who have hangar spaces, which so I am told are “cheaper” than the outside parking managed by the airport.

Frans wrote:

Maybe their secret wet dreams are a huge class A TMA+CTR, just for them.

There have been several proposals to “simplify” the airspace around ZRH which would have shut down or severely restricted airfields around it. I guess their real goal is to evict everything below 20 Tons or so or even anyone less than airliners or biz jets of airliner sizes. Pretty much like Munich.

Frans wrote:

I feel a wave is going through Europe these days. Salzburg, Düsseldorf, Billund, Zadar, Corfu… The list goes on with airports that highly increase their fees for GA, or maybe want to eliminate them completely.

That is indeed the situation in Europe. For me, GA has mostly lost it’s usefulness, as both my former homebase ZRH has closed for me (outpriced) forcing me to drive 50 minutes to my new homebase and my primary destination Salzburg now obviously also tries to shut out GA. Add to that most of the really desirable destinations on the Med.

Sebastian_G wrote:

I thought that probably in the future the best feature of an airport will be a short runway. This makes commercial jet traffic more or less impossible and keeps the airport usable for GA.

Absolutely! Add grass and you have a winner 🤓
And it also explains why ULs and homebuilts are becoming more popular by the day.

What a depressing thread! Not really something to get new pilots enthused about travelling in Europe.

The FRAPORT situation, especially in Greece, is definitely worth efforts such as those by AOPA Greece to get it improved (I for one support them with a membership even tho‘ I don‘t currently have plans to visit). But I don‘t see any benefit in simply bemoaning the situation.

Probably deserves a different thread, but instead of seeing the glass half empty and going down I prefer to see it half full and discuss and promote airfields that are attractive and/or have potential for improvement. Why continue to complain about the major commercial or wanabe airports rather than support and promote those that are more suitable and attractive for our needs? There are a lot of grass and small-medium sized VFR & IFR airfields in some countries and lots with potential worth trying to develop and support in others. We should be travelling to and supporting the airfields that welcome us and need our business to survive. That has the benefit of changing the conversation from a negative downward slope leading to people leaving GA to one of enthousiasm for flying to more and new places.

chflyer wrote:

Why continue to complain about the major commercial or wanabe airports rather than support and promote those that are more suitable and attractive for our needs?

The additional problem with Greece is their insisting on first landing at international airports which often use this as opportunity to extort money. When Greece starts to implement Schengen (as it supposes to) the issue of Corfu will have much less importance for GA.

boscomantico wrote:

I know someone who landed there a few months back (on a diversion) in an SEP. About 1400€ in total.

Thanks for the info! Unbelievable how some SEP pilots are still going there, with Egelsbach as a very decent alternate nearby. But if it was a diversion, maybe cloud breaking and switching to Egelsbach was not possible?

Mooney_Driver wrote:

Nope, actually it was in Geneva.

Makes sense, Geneva has already outpriced GA, by making handling mandatory in 2018 (?) and with only extremely expensive handlers on-site. Does the local aeroclub not provide any handling, like in Zurich?

Mooney_Driver wrote:

I guess their real goal is to evict everything below 20 Tons or so or even anyone less than airliners or biz jets of airliner sizes. Pretty much like Munich.

Munich (EDDM) and also Oberpfaffenhofen (EDMO) is open to all traffic above 2 tons MTOW. I’ve been told by a PC-12 pilot, that EDDM is even pretty cheap for them. They just don’t want small SEP GA…

chflyer wrote:

but instead of seeing the glass half empty and going down I prefer to see it half full and discuss and promote airfields that are attractive and/or have potential for improvement.

In general, I absolutely do agree with you! However, to be fair though, some destinations are only reachable by these expensive airports. Think of Salzburg, Corfu or Billund… What is the alternate? Especially if you fly IFR… Nothing. Either you have to open your wallet or don’t go there at all. It’s a shame. The situation for Geneva or Frankfurt is different. You can easily switch to either Annemasse or Frankfurt-Egelsbach as an alternate and still get to the city without too much additional effort.

chflyer wrote:

Why continue to complain about the major commercial or wanabe airports rather than support and promote those that are more suitable and attractive for our needs?

True, but I don’t think smaller GA airports can offer immigration+customs, rental cars and/or decent public transportation. This is a real issue. They should offer this to become more attractive. To get to my final destination, I often have to use airline airports. Here lies a lot of potential. I think companies like App2Drive in Germany improve things for GA fields, but their rental cars are still the exception in Germany…

Most UL pilots I know, just fly for the sake of flying and don’t need to get somewhere. They are happy with their $100 burger and get back home afterwards. I don’t have anything against that, but it is not beneficial to get more services offered at GA airfields.