Paying for a border force at La Rochelle for GA is mostly for the benefit of citizens of other countries.
So France makes no money from the countless thousands of Brits who get deposited there by cheap airlines? Until Brussels decided this was illegal, France was paying Ryanair etc to deposit as many Brits as they could down there 
I have my own thoughts on why the 48PN exists for LFBH. They are not the same as yours or those of several others on here.
It could simply be that “somebody big” got p1ssed off by the actions of a specific pilot, and blew his top. That’s certainly been the speculation around the crazy Caen AIP entry although that one isn’t AFAICT a “schengen suspension”.
Slight thread drift, but I’d just like to double-check.
Calais to La Rochelle, nothing at all needed.
Not even a FPL if VFR.
La Rochelle to San Sebastian.
48hrs PN to la Rochelle for departure, and whatever notice San Sebastian req for arrival.
Plus FPL because of the international border.
Then I need an Immigration airfield to return back into France. (With whatever PNR they req)
Or have I got that wrong ?
Correct.
La Rochelle is the “schengen suspension case” in that list.
Does San Sebastian still differentiate if you have flown in from “a security” or “a no security” airport? They used to charge differently depending upon departure airfield.
Then I need an Immigration airfield to return back into France
Nope you can use non-immigration airport in France to/from Spain even when Schengen is suspended, all you need is flight plan, no PN required, you can land/depart when you wish and one will come to check you
So flying Pressignac-Vic (LF2432) to/from SanSebastian does not require any formalities on French side
However, if you use an immigration airfield (LaRochelle) in France to/from you better 1/ get PN right and 2/ stick to ETA and EOBT and 3/ use main terminal and 4/ look for customs and 5/ make sure they check your papers
Long story short, avoid French immigration airfields when going to/from Spain, I did that mistake myself going from LaCerdanya to Tours once without PN…
gallois wrote:
You can’t really blame the countries within EU and Schengen for not catering to those who do not wish to be members.
I don’t. But as you can see it becomes a problem even for EU memberstates if one country all of a sudden throws a wobbly and sais, sorry we are (temporarily) out and now you need PPR everywhere. Which was the subject to this thread. Let alone others who still insist on AOE for GA only despite being both Schengen AND the EU (Greece)
Peter wrote:
For all the discussion, we still have no idea why this has happened.
tongue in the cheek you might want to look at this movie once:
and you might get an idea.
Apart, I think we know pretty well why: Terrorist attacks and Covid together provided for ample reasons for the bureaucrats to stop what they never really wanted in the first place.
gallois wrote:
Why would taxpayers want their hard earned taxes used to pay for a customs and immigration service at an airfield where there seems to be no good business case for that service?
Infrastructure. That is exactly the point @Gallois. Infrastructure cost is generally paid by the tax payer. I’ve not used a tiny fraction of the roads, railways and other stuff my tax francs have paid but I do certainly not question why they are done, as they serve the whole country and others too. With the same attitude, we would have to introduce massive road pricing and basically keep motorways for commercial vehicles only. That is the disease this continent has towards aviation: While roads and railroads are considered common good, airports and airfields are not. The logic in that being what exactly? They are traffic infrastructure. Therefore they do belong into the hands of the tax payer and not some private rogue enterprises which then deny the right to use them to a significant part of the population.
This thread is not really about the trend to 24hr or 48hr PN or PPR, visible most prominently recently in France.
It is about (again mainly or entirely France, in the post-CV19 era) demanding paper checks (passports etc) even for journeys which are wholly within Schengen.
The assertion that France should not provide immigration/customs unless the traveller pays (already implemented by say Bergerac, at €50, IME, years ago) relates to the first point (not the topic of this thread) but not to the second which is a really silly situation especially at La Rochelle which is a sizeable airport with a 24/7 police presence for security alone!
LFBH does not have a 24/7 border force or even police presence. I’m not sure where you get this from.
When it comes to all the Brits arriving by airline.As I pointed out this PN48 Notam is during a time when there are very few flights from the UK to La Rochelle. I think it is 2 Ryanair to Stansted per week, it might be one.
The airlines work on a RPL so adding a 48hr PN to that is of no consequence. They probably do all of them automatically, perhaps even months in advance.
For the taxpayer or the airport it does make business sense to pay bse for a service when 100 or more people are arriving at the same time in order to spend their money on taxis, hotels, restaurants in the area. There is no business sense in doing the same for 4 people arriving by GA, if there is only going to be 2 a week, and who might cancel at the last moment due to weather or any other reason.
@Mooney_Driver as I have pointed out on many occasions, most airfields in France, around 1700 of them, if you include the ULM sites are not transport infrastructure, they are sports and leisure facilities and are operated as such.
Most of the 1000+ ULM fields do require a PPR because they are on someone’s private land.
I have included some of the private fields in this.
Of the 500 or so CAP fields, the vast majority do not require PPR or PN
The PN in this thread is a result (and when it comes to EU +Schengen is the most debatable point here) of conditions being set by the border force in the particular region.
LFBH suffers from the fact that in winter it does not get much International traffic, most of which goes to Nantes or Bordeaux, both of which, I believe, have a border force presence during their opening hours.
La Rochelle has limited ATS and ATC hours but it is open IIRC 24/7. The club has it’s own entrance and exit and owners have their own key to the gates.
It could be considered, IMO, a sort of hybrid, mainly a sport and leisure facility for the whole year and an occasional transport infrastructure , mainly in the summer.
The two combined, is why it is supported by local taxes, although even then only so much will be committed, the rest the airport must earn, through hangarage, office and maintenance space etc. Very little is recouped through landing fees, and most regular users would prefer them to remain low.
@GA_Pete to answer your question directly.
Calais to La Rochelle VFR neither needs an FPL or a PN.
At present La Rochelle to San Sebastian requires a FPL due to crossing a frontier, a 48hr PN to bse and whatever Spain and San Sebastian require.
The PN 48 hr at LFBH could be avoided by flying from LFBH to one of the many small airfields in France which do not require PN or PPR and where often there are no fees to pay and filing your FPL from there. Bordeaux Leognan Saucat would be one example which also has a good restaurant on the field and is I believe, home to several posters on here.
On the return you can fly to any of the airfields in France. Personally, I would choose one where no PN or PPR is required. I would then fly on to my most convenient Port of Exit for the UK eg Calais, Lille or Le Touquet.
You could even pop in to LFFK if you feel like.🙂
gallois wrote:
The airlines work on a RPL so adding a 48hr PN to that is of no consequence. They probably do all of them automatically, perhaps even months in advance.
The RPL system has been abandoned in the Eurocontrol area. All airline flights are now on individual flight plans. Otherwise, you’re right of course. If nothing else, the handling company will know of airline movements well in advance.
gallois wrote:
I have pointed out on many occasions, most airfields in France, around 1700 of them, if you include the ULM sites are not transport infrastructure, they are sports and leisure facilities and are operated as such.
Ok, so with the EU rules it would mean they can be flown to from all EU and Schengen States without PNR/PPR then it is not a problem at all. But as Schengen was suspended in several places, as I understand it even flights from within Schengen and EU had to do customs with PNR. And that is a problem.
If it is purely a problem for arriving flights outside Schengen and if France implements the EU rule about customs waiver from Schengen states if the flight has no items to declare, then it is basically purely a UK problem these days and not a general problem for GA.
