Aviation contacts in Seychelles/Maldives/Indonesia/Taiwan?

eal wrote:

Extended long range fuel tanks

Having read many stories over the past 2 decades it seems range is the key. From the writing people seem to be able to cope with a few expensive and annoying stops and have a great trip. But once you get below 1000NM range or so the number of such stops seems to spoil the experience…

I completely understand your distaste at having to pay exorbitant amounts for handing, especially compared to where you are used to flying.
Handling charges leave a bad taste in the mouth, and I like everyone else do our best to avoid them like the plague, but sadly the buccaneering days of blazing a cheap trail around the world are long gone, hence the need for a lot of sponsorship in recent RTW attempts.

You have to pick your battles, and in many cases as you head East, you will have to swallow these charges.
Extended long range fuel tanks will save a few expensive stops. I use a Turtlepac on these long trips and can normally get away with a singe stop in India and the Middle East to mitigate it.

1k for CIQ, insane!! Are you familiar with fees and procedures in neighboring countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Timor, etc.)? I’m trying to plan the flight economically and fearing that 1k a stop is the going rate.

Chittagong (VGEG), in Bangladesh, used to be at least, a good stop as an alternative second stop in India. Handling there was around USD400 in 2019.
I have never stopped in Timor, but Indonesia is generally at par or more expensive than Thailand, depending on where you stop. Avoid Bali (WADD) for example as they have a USD5K “Special handling” fee, yet nearby Lombok (WADL), the adjacent island is around USD1.5K.

The jewel in cheaper stops is Malaysia, or at least it used to be when I was last there in 2020.
The majority of Malaysian airports have CIQ, even the smaller ones and are quite GA friendly, with a good level of English, however Malaysia was one of the most draconian Asian countries for applying Covid restrictions and I do not know if they still allow international arrivals at all of the smaller airports. During Covid all International arrivals were funnelled through a handful of the larger airports like Kuala Lumpur, even GA.
Wings Over Asia in Singapore should be able to give you more up to date suggestions for Malaysia.

Once you get to Australia, you will be back to easy cheap self handling, and an abundance of options.
Please let us know your own experiences. It helps others later.

Cheers – E

boscomantico wrote:

Have you actually spoken to recent earthrounders?

I think someone was doing fundraising due to his late arrival in Greenland, he landed 15min late and paid 1500Euros for ‘extended hours’ (100E/min)

I think you are going to pay 1k in many places around the world, often a LOT more than that. What did you think the big airports between Turkey and Australia, or in Oceania would charge? Have you actually spoken to recent earthrounders? Or at least read some or their blogs? https://www.earthrounders.com/

That would be great! Do you know if there are any inexpensive options for CIQ? That seems to be the tricky part for Thailand. Once domestic, looks like lots of great affordable options for airfields!

Unfortunately for Thailand CIQ, it is a case of slightly less expensive CIQ options rather than inexpensive.

Assuming you are arriving from the North, Chiang Rai, (VTCT) which has Jet Fuel, may be cheaper circa USD 1k, instead of circa USD 2k at Chiang Mai (VTCC).
Same goes exiting from the South. Hat Yai, (VTSS) is slightly cheaper and less hassle than Phuket (VTSP), however as a tropical beach destination Phuket is beautiful.

Last week a C172 flew up to Phuket from Singapore. they CIQ’d at Hat Yai for USD1k.

In the Capital, Bangkok, if you have the range for CIQ there – Don Muang (VTBD) should be slightly cheaper than Chiang Mai or Phuket.

All of the above have Jet-A1 from a bowser, but you should arrange fuel uplifts via somebody like World Fuel as most of these airports cannot handle cash or CC.
Using a fuel uplift provider is something I would recommend in any case for a trip such as yours. It removes the necessity of transporting lots of USD’s and give certainty of supply.

Cheers – E

You could try the BBC

EAL is the real expert here. He flies a Jetprop all over the place.

@Sam_Rutherford recently (June 2022) transited through Thailand via Chiang Mai (VTCC) and Phuket (VTSP) on a ferry flight to Australia, and he would be able to give you actual data.

Rutherford demanded the deletion of his “account” here recently, which was done, so he won’t be getting notifications and can’t post here or receive or send PMs. He then went on to cause me some admin hassle. I don’t know why. Probably something related to here but I can’t see what.