Peter wrote:
Lots of people are irritated at the various businesses which try to establish themselves as “agents” of various sorts
reading this, others spontaneously spring to my mind, such as EASA, BP, TOTAL, MyDz, all “handling” companies, and probably countless more, all trying to get a bite of the tender and juicy pilot as such 
Patrick wrote:
There is a few companies in European GA that are improving our lives. SkyDemon is one of them, AeroPS another one. Neither company gets everything always right.
I agree with your so far. I also don’t blame AeroPS for last year’s debacle as they were contracted at a very late stage and really didn’t have enough time. It is more difficult to understand why (apparently) the same thing happens again.
While undoubtedly bad for Aerops, the IT mess draws a lot of attention to them while the real culprit is to find elsewhere, namely in the form of a GA exhibition, at an airport (!) that by the fair’s own management’s choice isn’t reachable simply by using GA as a means of transport, but in contrary even installs hurdles like slots etc..
It’s been clear for years that EDNY the airport does not like the exhibition there; specifically the traffic it brings.
One would think they would like the income but – like so many airports – they probably get funded regardless of traffic so for them it is just extra work for nothing. Or – like so many airports – they feel they get enough from passenger jets. They don’t “get” that in a fixed cost scenario, and all the time you are below capacity, (true for probably all airports), every € from GA goes straight to the bottom line.
EDNY isn’t normally slotted, is it? I have flown there at other times and it was ok. I would not recommend it for a quick fuel stop, but that’s true for so many places. This slot business looks like it is done at the insistence of the airport, just for the show, to spread out the hundreds of GA movements over a few days.
The following was posted, apparently by the Aerops guy, on a German domestic site (google translation). I am posting it here so Patrick can see both sides are able to air their views.
Snoopy wrote:
While undoubtedly bad for Aerops, the IT mess draws a lot of attention to them while the real culprit is to find elsewhere, namely in the form of a GA exhibition, at an airport (!) that by the fair’s own management’s choice isn’t reachable simply by using GA as a means of transport, but in contrary even installs hurdles like slots etc..
I agree this is the root of the problem. No idea what’s behind it – if it’s airport management or the venue management or both, but it’s pretty strange that this situation exists.
Complaints about ineffectual ‘service’ are not actually “hate” but it is amusing to see it termed that way. Its interesting to imagine how the guy (child?) who sees things that way could survive in any real business 
This is just another example of how ridiculous restrictions and over complication leads to chaos which then leads to endless discussion, and to rudeness from those ostensibly trying to garner your business but who actually live off government supported coercion while doing little to nothing. Many see that as the European aviation model.
I flew in to this event nine years ago and enjoyed it even if it was a little underwhelming in terms of pilot attendance. It’s not hard to understand why.
We are trying to organise a meet-up there and as I see it a number of people have already either been unable to get a slot or gave up trying.
One indication of the IT incompetence is that people could buy 8 double slots. If they asked for the aircraft reg first, they could prevent that. And this is a company which claims IT competence, by running an airport payment system (mostly in Germany, but Germany is one of GA’s biggest communities).
The system was continuously accessible and there was no overload. If you couldn’t get up, please test the internet connection locally.
This is so funny and absolutely disconnected from reality. Whoever wrote this and whoever wrote that software is totally clueless about how this job should be done.
Yesterday I tried to book slot 4 times, every time with different result, every time ending in different stage of the process. However, I didn’t come to the end and entering payment details didn’t lead to executing transaction. Back office wasn’t able to find the reason of failure and they recommended repeating booking procedure today which was successful.
Peter wrote:
A lot of traffic was also expected and the fastest servers available on the market were used.
As I was not planning to land on EDNY I don’t have a horse in this game. Having said that I believe we as as community deserve better. Not only in terms of technical competence but first and foremost customer focus.
What puzzles me is the fact that both grass strip alternatives will be inaccessible to GA during exhibition time. Markdorf would be closed for airplanes and Wildberg will be “closed and locked”.
