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Nice and friendly GA Airports in the area of Montpellier LFMT / Perpignan LFMP / Beziers LFMU

I have good experiences with LFMU (Béziers). Avignon is always nice as well and convenient with the hotel nearby if you need a stop-over for the night. For a simple tech-stop, I would personally to go Beziers.

EDLE, Netherlands

Sure; but this is a special situation, and even more “special” with the French prohibition on UK people entering France. I need to get it in writing that a fuel stop is OK – even though it should be OK everywhere.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

No idea how to do a “detailed gendec”.

Well, GENDEC is supposed to be this form local copy

Peter wrote:

I don’t think they “got” that this is a fuel stop.

Maybe yes, maybe not.

  1. You might want a shuttle to go pay the landing tax, if you don’t want to walk. They just inform you on the availability.
  2. In my experience, French airports (particularly in the South and South-West of France) are “drilled” by the customs to inform Customs (acting also as Border Force) of each and every flight from/out of France, even intra-EU intra-Schengen. Customs then decide to come or not. This does not mean that the PIC or the operator have any obligation to ensure Customs are notified! This makes sense on two levels:
    • There are subtleties around which territory is part the EU customs area and/or the EU VAT area (Post-Brexit Northern Ireland vs Liverpool, Pre-Brexit Channel Islands vs Isle of Man, Melilla, Campione d’Italia, etc) that one cannot expect each and every airport ops employee to know (obviously the case of CI and IoM has become much more clear now).
    • Even on an intra-Schengen intra-EU flight (for most of these items, even an intra-France flight), Customs/Border Force/Police can still come to check for:
      • moderate amounts of cash, on the scale of a few thousands of EUR
      • “commercial quantities” of goods subject to excise (tobacco, alcohol, fuel, …)
      • fugitives / outstanding arrest warrants
ELLX

Emir used LFMU for his canaries trip.

LFOU, France

Yes, LFMU is always efficient – my shortest stop was 25 min and the longest one 45 min.

LFMT is very similar although a bit higher landing fee comparing to LFMU (€50 vs €14).

Last Edited by Emir at 05 Jun 07:17
LDZA LDVA, Croatia

I think it’s normal for OPS to ask for GENDEC this was the case way before Brexit, and I have sent customs notification or declaration every time I stopped in France but I rarely saw PAF/Douanes (maybe 1 out of 10 most of it was at LFAT)

It’s much easier to email/phone customs and fuel yourself with Total/BP or ask ATC for fuel truck, better not involve OPS unless you want parking…

Last Edited by Ibra at 05 Jun 08:16
Paris/Essex, France/UK, United Kingdom

Ibra wrote:

I think it’s normal for OPS to ask for GENDEC this was the case way before Brexit, and I have sent customs notification or declaration every time I stopped in France but I rarely saw PAF/Douanes (maybe 1 out of 10 most of it was at LFAT)

More or less it’s practically the same as GAR – you send it and nobody shows up

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

I am not doing any stop in France (or Germany – both countries ban entries from the UK) because last night my 2nd credit card was blocked, leaving me with just one working card. If that fails to work (for the fuel payment) then I am screwed beause they won’t let me depart, and by the time it is somehow sorted it will be too late to get home same day.

I did get the card “fixed” but it took 2hrs on the phone to the idiot-muppet-script CC call centre, and I don’t know how reliable it is because there were some, ahem, language difficulties

LFMT did not respond further to my comms, anyway. I suspect everybody is afraid to commit on the standard rule that fuel stops are coronavirus policy exempt, knowing that they could be stuck with a foreign pilot who cannot make the fuel pump work, etc, etc. It’s one of those things which works if you just turn up and do it…

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Peter wrote:

I suspect everybody is afraid to commit on the standard rule that fuel stops are coronavirus policy exempt, knowing that they could be stuck with a foreign pilot who cannot make the fuel pump work, etc, etc.

I really doubt that. In last month or so and more than 30 flight hours and landing in 6 countries (France, Spain, Canary Islands – different rules than mainland Spain, Italy, Slovenia and back to Croatia), every airport replied and nobody hesitated to confirm required service and coronavirus rules. Initial response I got from LFMU was that PCR test was needed for crew as well but later on they corrected it, so in all these countries crews were (are) exempted.

LDZA LDVA, Croatia

Emir wrote:

Yes, LFMU is always efficient

We had a terrible experience at Beziers a couple of years ago. Stopped there on the way to UK from Ibiza to refuel and officially “leave” the Schengen zone. The nice airport lady met us at the plane and took us into the terminal. Then out to customs and immigration for the departure. These guys threatened to arrest me for entering France without going through immigration on the way in!! We were just following the lady in charge. They lady and the immigration guys had a blazing row for 10 minutes and then they decided to let us go. Moral of the story, dont enter the country by the “back door” by mistake.

Upper Harford private strip UK, near EGBJ, United Kingdom
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