Hi,
Great to read you enjoyed the trip.
I was down on the ground in Düsseldorf waiting for VMC all day on Saturday and when it all cleared up, I had other obligations. Had to wait until Sunday then (which was scheduled to be much worse and wetter but ended up nicely).
Cheers.
We went to Dusseldorf EDDL last week. Great flight and we arrived at rush hour (18:20 landing time). ATC professionally squeezed us in between the CAT traffic. @Patrick was around and offered us a ride to the city center.
I contacted the handling agency (Jet Aviation) upfront to announce that we were coming and they arranged our arrival/departure slots. I also asked in that email for an estimate for the landing/handling costs. I didn’t got reply on that, but based on feedback from the eddh.de website I thought it would be OK.
Big mistake!! The landing bill was an eye watering 318 EUR. This included a 149EUR ex VAT fee just for handling. And all kinds of other fees, like Airport Concession fee, Admin & Communication fee, etc.
We objected to this exorbitant high handling fee, but there was no way around it.
As handling does not seem to be necessary at EDDL, I probably made the mistake to contact them upfront and let them do the slot management..
lenthamen wrote:
Big mistake!! The landing bill was an eye watering 318 EUR. This included a 149EUR ex VAT fee just for handling. And all kinds of other fees, like Airport Concession fee, Admin & Communication fee, etc
I have just checked your invoice positions (based on the screenshot in your private message) against the invoices I received from DUS. It’s all the same apart from anything mentioned under “Handling” (that includes the 149 EUR, but also Airport Concession fee and Admin & Communication fee). This usually leaves me with something around 80 EUR for VFR flights.
I’ve also just called them to clarify this on a general basis. It makes no difference generally if you arrive VFR or IFR. Obviously, if you arrive IFR, you need slots to be arranged. This CAN (but does not have to) be done through Jet Aviation. If you only use their slot arrangement services, that would be 49 EUR. If you require handling, that will be the 149 EUR (possibly plus the concession fee and the admin & communication fee, I didn’t ask for that specifically).
I’m not sure there is ANY real value in getting the handling and I’m also not sure how it happened that they put it on the bill in your case. I suppose it’s difficult to sort out when the arrangements have been done on the phone but one should also like to think that a decent service provider would point these subtle differences out on the phone and be fair about it. Handling agents like the general public seem to think that any pilot can print money at will.
Apart from all that, nice seeing you in DUS and don’t be put off by this and do come back. 
I probably made the mistake to contact them upfront and let them do the slot management..
If you need slots in Germany just call AIS: +49 69 78072500 They are very kind and provide slots free of charge. Only if you have more than maybe 3 slots a month the central slot system will be sending you an invoice over about 2 Euro per slot.
Patrick and Sebastian, thanks a lot for the feedback!
It was an expensive lesson.
So for people who read this and want to fly to Dusseldorf:
Handling is not mandatory at Dusseldorf. Don’t contact the handler upfront.
The GA parking is in front of the GAT building and you can just walk there.
Slots are needed only for IFR arrival and departures. For VFR you don’t need a slot.
Arrange your own slots via the phone number provided by Sebastian earlier in this thread.
I was billed 231EUR for an unneeded and useless service.
I am toying with the idea of Dusseldorf.
Is it still a relatively cheap and easy place to visit?
See my pirep from September 2019 here.
Don‘t believe much has changed.
Remember non-Schengen flights require PPR from the handling (see AIP). Don‘t know if that triggers any expensive handling fee.
boscomantico wrote:
Remember non-Schengen flights require PPR from the handling (see AIP). Don‘t know if that triggers any expensive handling fee.
Who’s the best to contact for the GAT? I see you can park at the GAT and usually walk through.
Is the German AIP behind a user/pw wall?
No, just use Skydemon to access it. There is the email address as well.
boscomantico wrote:
No, just use Skydemon to access it. There is the email address as well.
Might be a bit too far for me to fly, but how’s EDDB? Berlin?
