That old (or new?) problem - parking for (visiting) light GA aircraft at the bigger airports

Funnlily enough today I asked for grass parking at Lugano (22 euros / day cheaper) and got denied (“too heavy”). “GA” parking was quite full, with plenty of Falcons (probably the largest jet that can cope with the required performance) in “sideway 69” to save space. The next smallest thing to the SR22 was an Avanti.

The stay there will still be cheaper than the one at bresso, so some airports definitely think accomodating smaller ones works.

(I got a parking on hard)

Honestly, what is wrong with people? It’s like common sense is non existent in general these days. Of course there’s parking – there is always room! And even when it’s full, just push a few of the LSA’s out into the grass with the owners consent and make room.

In almost 20 years of flying I only had a parking issue once – last week, when flying to Oregon to watch the eclipse. We originally wanted to fly to Weiser in Idaho, but when I called and spoke with the airport manager, he said he couldn’t take us, because – wait for it – he had already booked 135 (yes: onehundredandthirtyfive) airplanes and was over capacity. We ended up flying to Ontario, OR, where about 50 or so airplanes landed. So: two tiny regional airports in rural parts of the US West can take about 200 airplanes between them and major European airports cannot take more than six? Seriously?

PS: As an aside, it was an absolutely amazing trip to see the eclipse!

boscomantico wrote:

One aspect might be the obvious increase of “bizet” GA traffic, and that these jets have taken up much of the space that was previously availabe for SEPs.

Another aspect is definitely that nowadays they “paint” aircraft parking positions on the GA aprons, whereas previously they didn’t, and managing the space flexibly was so much easier.

Yet another aspect might be in the increase in airline traffic. Personally, I think this is the main reason.

The B parking area at Biarritz has shrunk, but for a technical stop they will allow you to park on A normally reserved for bizjets, particularly as the BP pumps are at that end. They will charge handing from B, but not from A as you remain airside. It does appear that bizjets have squeezed GA out of there, but there have been major works there this year and they have been unwilling to accept GA parking.
San Sebastian is slightly different as there are 8 parking spots for GA, but they are often used by the flight school which have their own area at the other end. This airport has also become a bizjet destination and I have been refused parking only to receive an e-mail a hour or so later to tell me they had a cancellation. They will try and accommodate you, but you will pay a 61 euro handling unless you come from an airport with police, so in a sense they are also discouraging GA.
Commercial aviation has increased at both these airports, but I think it is only a major factor at Biarritz.

Simon

I agree that jet traffic is the main reason for all these hassles, but not due to space. Most of the airports concerned have loads of parking space.

It is because

• jets pay lots of money while fitting into the traditional airport workflow which is HANDLING
• the pilots don’t haggle about costs (many, even bizjet ones, don’t have any idea of the costs)
• most bizjet passengers pay anything for a fancy reception with coffee and croissants in the handling area, etc.

so basically “jets” = “easy life” while “GA” = “hassle” and since the S-word (safety) is absolutely magical in preventing external scrutiny of business practices in aviation, airports have become the last refuge of inept management looking for an easy life. I say “inept” because excluding GA makes no financial sense in most cases; nearly all airport costs are fixed costs so any money you get goes straight to the bottom line.

Other factors include an out of control handling company which conned the not-on-the-ball airport management into giving it excessive rights over traffic. Most handlers are pretty sharp in this, and pretty sharp in blocking GA which tries to avoid handling (“taxi to the aeroclub”, etc). Handlers tend to be much sharper than the airport management and easily go out of control. In some cases there is also bribery by the handler to the airport manager; I am sure this is a lot more common at airports where there is no explanation for what goes on.

As regards requesting parking, I don’t actually do that. I send the destination a standard email with the details of the flight and saying I would like avgas and hard parking for x nights, and is there anything I need to know? For France, Spain and Italy I include a google translation

Painting aircraft positions and enforcing them rigidly seems to be a mostly Greek thing. We had some of it at Carcassonne but we had many other issues at Carcassonne…

At San Sebastian, handling is via Iberia and they have told me that they don’t see any of the money. In fact they are so reluctant to collect it, that they can forget. It is in fact a disguised revenue for AENA.
Simon

@Boscomantico
I can confirm Split is a problem in the summer. I was diverted to Brac in spite of an accepted VFR flight plan to Split. But when I got to Split for a departing commercial flight out later that day (in early August), I understood why. All flights were delayed. The line at the bar was 60 minutes plus. Only standing room in the departure area with people occupying the stairs and hanging from the railings. It was the poster child of a resort airport overwhelmed by summer demand.

Brac is a delightful contrast, with passport control and welcoming management. They seem to be picking up biz jet traffic too, but parking is no problem.