Airport Granada (LEGR) IFR

Visited in September for four days (three nights) and had only the very best experience. IFR approach with a procedure turn in mountainous terrain—that’s fun. Forewarned by another PIREP, I asked for a handling quote. The invoice came to 271,28€, of which 100€ was handling—thus 1,50€ below the quote for an SR22 with 1.550kg MTOW.

Handling (Universal Aviation)—one might wonder what for—but in the end everything runs extremely smoothly and lightning fast. While we were being marshalled in, the AVGAS truck was already rolling up. While refueling, the handler moved the baggage. Fuel is paid directly at the truck (2,71€/l), and shortly after you’re in the GAT building. The taxi driver was already waiting. The return, three overnights later: same experience. Walked into the GAT, called the handling agent, he showed up two minutes later, Security, and you’re at your aircraft. I’d say 10min from entering the GAT to arriving at the aircraft. Without small talk and a WC stop you could have done it in 5 minutes. You can save the 100€ for handling if, like Tina, you organize everything yourself—fine for those who enjoy that.

LEGR is, in our experience, a strong recommendation; same for Universal Aviation. And price-wise, for such a tourist airport, absolutely reasonable.

Handling is mandatory when arriving in Granada if your aircraft’s wingspan exceeds 14m OR if you are coming from an aerodrome without departure security measures. Moreover, all departures, regardless of the destination and all arrivals from outside Schengen require handling. Non-Schengen flights may require full-blown handling when there are passengers (I’m not sure). For all other cases request the „Servicio de acompañamiento en plataforma“ with South via email (if there are several addresses mentioned in the AIP, I always use all). The following checklist is very helpful to make sure you only pay 9€ for each accompaniment to or from the aircraft: https://realaeroclubdeespaña.org/dont-let-them-cheat-you/

Furthermore, a ramp slot has to be requested to the airport (CEOPS) by email (grx.cecoa@aena.es) or phone. I always prefer email to have something in writing just in case. For fuel, call Exolum (TEL: +34-958 245 244) when on the ground. They will prioritize commercial flights of course, but they are friendly and you can easily pay by card. In our case it got complicated as there was a commercial flight they took care of, and we were told there was a 35-40 minutes wait. We were not happy but accepted, as we always want to refuel on arrival. After a few minutes the handling agent providing the accompaniment didn’t want to wait any longer and also didn’t want to go away and come back 30 minutes later. She told us either we postponed the refueling to our departure day or we would have to pay for her waiting for us (90€ per hour). So we decided to use her service and leave the plane. We could only refuel before our departure as it is not possible to go airside without flying.

AENA fees (landing and parking) can be paid online via this link: https://www.aena.es/sites/Satellite?d=Touch&pagename=TPV_Pagos_Aeropuertos Landing and parking for 2 days for a Mooney was 64,51€.

Without the fight AOPA Spain has done and is still doing, GA in Spain would probably be almost dead. But even with these rules and prices that AENA has put in place, it is not overly expensive, but a hassle- even if you speak Spanish.

Quiet airfield in great scenery. While vacating the runway, request directly with the Tower to get Avgas promptly from the fuel truck at 2.69€ per liter. Pay the airport fees on the 1st floor of the terminal—landing only 23€, but mandatory handling for Non-Schengen departures that slows you down, is completely unnecessary, and costs 50€. Fees, fueling, and handling payable by credit card. Entry and exit as well as customs and exit formalities via a separate checkpoint at the Guardia Civil. For the trip to Marrokko probably still the cheapest airport.