PIREPs by Tina

As at many AENA airports, handling and a ramp slot are mandatory for all GA operations. The workflow is a bit different from others, though. You request the basic handling service („Servicio de acompañamiento en plataforma“) with South via email (eascicops@southeu.com). They will then forward this to CEOPS, and CEOPS will approve and assign a parking stand on the GA ramp.

After landing, make sure you follow the special procedure to shut down the engine in the assigned area and tow the aircraft to the stand afterwards. We paid South on arrival for both accompaniment services (18€).

Before departure, go to the AENA office (to the left and upstairs in the terminal) to pay the landing and parking fees (56,46€ for a Mooney, landing and 2 days parking). Afterwards meet the South person downstairs to take you through security and to the plane. The whole process felt a bit less cumbersome than in other places. Staff on the ground as well as ATC was very friendly.

San Sebastián is deservedly famous as tourist destination but Hondarribia close to the airport is well worth a visit too. You can walk to many hotels there in less than 15 minutes.

Jerez is a very busy airport with a large flying school and commercial traffic, so the approach can be a bit hectic.

Handling is mandatory for all GA operations, but you get the service for 18€ if you choose the right words and the right handling agent. There is a very valuable checklist on how to proceed in Spain where handling is mandatory: https://realaeroclubdeespaña.org/dont-let-them-cheat-you/

So you have to request the „Servicio de acompañamiento en plataforma“ with South via email (xrykp@southeu.com) and have them confirm the price.

Furthermore, a ramp slot has to be requested to the airport (CEOPS) by email (CoordinadoresJerez@aena.es). Before you leave, you can pay the AENA fees (landing, parking and some minor stuff) in their office in the first floor. It was something around 100€ for a Mooney for 4 days. AENA parking fees are hefty, but you can easily rent a car for cheap (at least in low season) in Jerez and explore the area. We went to Sierra de Grazalema with its white villages and some great hiking and liked it a lot.

Once the AENA fees are paid, go out to the gate where you were dropped off on arrival and call South for the pick-up.

In our case, something remarkable happened then. The driver sent by South to us to the plane without processing the payment of the 18€! At several other airports we visited before they came with the invoice and the credit card reader and took us to the plane once payment was done. Here we asked the driver and he said he was just told to pick us up and take us to the plane and he assumed the payment had been done in the office before. No, we said- he didn’t care and called it a “regalito”, a small present :-)

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.

Handling is mandatory in Zaragoza, but you get the service for 18€ if you choose the right words and the right handling agent. There is a very valuable checklist on how to proceed in Spain where handling is mandatory: https://realaeroclubdeespaña.org/dont-let-them-cheat-you/

We sent a request to South EU one day before our flight to confirm the price for the „Servicio de acompañamiento en plataforma“. They didn’t reply for the whole day, so I called to remind them. This worked, the confirmation email said „Buenas tardes ,  Confirmamos servicio de acompñamiento ,  el ttl serán 18€ , solo incluye el traslado del avion a la salida y viceversa.“ It also works in English. When we arrived at our parking stand, it took 5 minutes until they showed up and took us landside. Hi-vis vests are mandatory as almost everywhere in Spain.

According to the AIP a ramp slot hast to be requested by phone to the airport (CEOPS). We did it by email to ceopszaz@aena.es the day before, which was fine. 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€. Once you pay, CEOPS will send you the invoice, so there is no need to show up in the office at all.

A taxi to town was 26€, and Zaragoza is well worth a visit.

Nice airfield with friendly people who met us at the fuel station. Parking was close by on the tarmac so we could push the plane over without firing up the engine. Payment with aerops: Fuel 100LL 2,50€ per liter, landing 15€. Using the IFR approach was a bit expensive with 36€ for a Mooney with 1420kg MTOW. Taxi into town around 30€ (independent of cab size), Bautzen is a nice historic town well worth a visit.

Report from July 2021: Great airfield to visit the town of Périgueux or take a car and explore the Périgord. French not necessarily required, ATIS speaks English.Modest fees and nice people. Only drawback: AVGAS (TOTAL) quite expensive. They waived us the parking fee for the one night, would have been around 11€ (calculated by MTOW and hours).

Report from July 2021: Nice small airport, mainly glider traffic. Hangars available for 12€ per night, apron 6€.Contact data changed, see picture. Not in AIP, we used the chart provided by aterriza.org to follow the procedure. Madrid ACC can be reached easily for IFR pickup after departure. Spending 1-2days in Soria is highly recommended!

This information is only valid when there is no AFIS (weekdays after 1700LT and weekends) A/a communication in French is required. When we arrived Friday evening, there was nobody and also on Saturday we were alone. There is nothing around, it might be possible to rent a car, we did not try. But if you are into French food, we recommend to go there ( https://www.burnel.fr/hotel-restaurant-hotel-vosges-lorraine ) and have dinner at the restaurant mentioned. Call beforehand (+33 3 29 65 64 10) to do the reservation and they will pick you up at the airport.

Visited in 2020. PPR request sent in good time (4–5 days in advance, with a weekend in between) via email to aero.pantelleria@enac.rupa.it. Since nothing happened, called GAP (+39 0923 911398) and got the email address gappantelleria@gmail.com. Forwarded everything there and then received the PPR from info@aeroportodipantelleria.it.

Costs about €70 for handling, landing, and 2 days of parking for a Mooney M20T. Unfortunately, they do not accept two pilots as crew if the aircraft may be flown single-pilot, and PAX fees apply.

Avgas available at €3.50/l (cash preferred); pre-coordinate with Nautilus via email to pnl.fuel@nautilusaviation.com to ensure it’s arranged.

Pantelleria is recommended and should not be missed on a Sicily tour!

Contacted the handling agent (Email: egsap@icelandair.is / jetcenter@icelandair.is) beforehand as required in the AIP and got a quote for a 4-day stay with a Mooney (leaving the country from there) asking 265 USD. They even warned us that if we departed outside opening hours it will get really expensive. In the end we stayed only 3 nights and paid 156 USD. It was the cheapest Icelandic airport we stayed at (BIRK and BIAR were way more expensive, almost double). The office is located behind the checkin counter.

New airport to serve the Murcia region. Easy car rental. Handling mandatory, reasonable prices and real service by Swissport.Not a lot of traffic when we were there. AVGAS truck arrived quickly, but it comes at a whopping 3,18€/l with BP card.

Great airfield to visit Verona. Notify them before you arrive, telephone seems to work better than email. Good English.Then everything worked well, we arrived VFR from Bolzano and established Radio contract still over Lago di Garda. Traffic well organized, we were asked to report base 08, no issues.Highly recommend this place, fees are moderate.

We informed the airport beforehand and were told that parking on the grass (apron 300) is no problem.Also organized a rental car (rentalcars.com - Hertz), which worked fine.The approach from the north (IFR) was not as smoothe as it could be. Padova required us to cross Brennero at FL 160 and wouldn‘t let us descend afterwards either (same for other aircraft). They did an exaggerated spacing (severe VMC) for the 3 aircraft inbound and also did not accept „overhead the field, ready to cancel IFR“ - we had to fly almost to Trento and hold at FORER before we could descend for the VOR approach fur RWY 01. With gear down, minimum power and speedbrakes we managed to land on RWY 01.Service on the ground was friendly, we had to register as it was the first time there, but after 5-10 mins the paperwork was done and we were good to go.