From here
Well, with there being no more airline flights, it is very normal that all the surrounding facilities and services are shut down.
We have seen a lot of it and we‘ll see even more of that in France. With the legislated ban on short-haul airline flights, many of the regional airports in France already went into permanent hibernation.
Usually, this means:
The list of these airports is very long in France, and it ultimately will lead to France losing its reputation as GA heaven to some degree. Mostly because it will have become so difficult to get around once on the ground at many places. Because what is the point of spending 1000€ to fly somewhere if it is so hard or impossible to move around at the destination? Electric bikes and scooters might fill that void to some degree, but are not a solution for all cases. Car-sharing (getaround, ouicar, etc.) is only for those speaking good French and being disposed to deal with that.
Indeed.
I forecast the demise of the “chamber of commerce funded airports” system many years ago (basically it works until the bean counter responsible for the funding sobers up from the excellent dinner and wine the night before, and looks at the numbers) and the 24hr/48hr PN business has accelerated this by killing off most UK GA traffic. Some French airports have reportedly reported a 1/3 loss of revenue, which is huge given that nearly all airport costs are fixed costs.
FWIW I am sure the landing fees paid by Ryanair etc did not cover the airport costs. In France, with ~50% employer NICs, people are a very expensive aspect, especially in airport terms where a lot of staffing is regulatory. The salaries and apportioned costs of say 20 people come to c. €2M and that assumes zero property maintenance (currently obviously what is happening at Dinard). The formula applied would have been “look at the money spent locally by the tourists” which is probably quite right, but works only while the said airline keeps flying there, with freshly loaded Brits, not just French local people.
Uber? Taxi? It does depend which airports you are including in the list.
But it is very difficult for me to comment as I, like most of my flying chums appear to gain advantages to being members of the club scene.
Eg reduced landing fees (or so it seems) us of Fr. Only airfields etc.
It is why I don’t tend to contribute to the EuroGa database. I would simply be giving duff information.
Most airfields in France survive or not due to the local GA scene and the local town hall. If others from another country wish to join in then that’s a bonus.
Dinard built many of its facilities and staffed them due to Ryan Air. At the time Ryan, probably would not have paid any landing fees or less than the average GA aircraft. They might have even received money from the local tourist fund.
The EU made this practice illegal. IMO this is the reason for the decline of Dinard as an International destination. It has nothing to do with the 2 hour by train legislation. For a start Dinard to Paristakes longer than 2 hours by train and secondly I don’t believe the legislation has been passed, fully yet.
I would simply be giving duff information
Could you please elaborate? Is the airport not in the database?
It could be for instance that we get a club rate or an FFA rate. I have never really delved into it.
Then there is the situation where the local club might help arrange taxis or someone will drive us into town. Or a restaurant or hotel might send someone to pick us up.
It is because my experience has been so different to others I have been loath to post in the database.
I would however, if I was to fly somewhere outside of French territories.
However, in talking to non French pilots and in reading on here, there seems to be a number of fields whereby we pay around half of the landing fee, parking fee (if we pay one at all) than our non French visitors. It could be for instance that we get a club rate or an FFA rate. I have never really delved into it.
You pay heavy state taxes and FAA membership, that is enough? they may send letters to aircraft registration adress which is likely the first adress your aeroclub had since 1905 
You rarely pay anything in France same as for F-reg, G-reg, D-reg or N-reg (except at LeTouquet, Calais, Lille, Cannes, Deauville & Cean), it’s either waived, ignored, discounted or hard to settle? I tried to pay 15€ for my landing fee at Nantes but apparently “le bureau de piste” is no longer manned, they will send me a letter as there is no other way, we will see…you may need French chequebooks to pay in some places, we have sent them but I am still asking my wife if the money was taken after 3 years? the answer for most of them is “not yet” but we keep a trace for our own consumption
Even with such privileged experience like yours, it’s worth leaving a feedback for “non French pilots”
I don’t have FAA membership. I think you mean FFA and that covers both a lfe insurance and a get you home service which at just over €100 a year I don’t think is bad.
To return to the subject I paid €10 recently for a DA42 at LFBH including parking for a few hours.
I noticed on here that someone paid more for an SEP. IMO it doesn’t help anyone to post in an inteenational database figures which are not what everyone can expect. But I will if others are happy with that.
That is about the applicable rate for LFBH
I am not aware of distinctions on landing fee? other than LeTouquet ofc (who charge a supplement on “UK flights”, it is not in their fee document but still not a lot of money for what one get: turning up without PN, bike rentals, plenty of parking, always welcome…)
Many places I fly to in France may or may not be in the database.
Most French airfields should be in there. It was only Italy where a large number of very small strips could not be included without adding extra user-selectable layers which would then involve a user login.
To return to the subject I paid €10 recently for a DA42 at LFBH including parking for a few hours.
I noticed on here that someone paid more for an SEP. IMO it doesn’t help anyone to post in an inteenational database figures which are not what everyone can expect. But I will if others are happy with that.
I think this should be fine. Just state your landing fee was discounted because you have the FFA card or whatever.
other than LeTouquet ofc (who charge a supplement on “UK flights”,
This has been claimed in the UK GA “echo chambers” but I asked them directly and they denied doing that
This has been claimed in the UK GA “echo chambers” but I asked them directly and they denied doing that
I think it’s a rumour, I can’t confirm or deny they hiked the discounted price from 10€ to 24€ recently (undiscounted from 36€ to 42€)
