We’re thinking of doing a 2 week flying vacation in August through the Greek Islands. I see Rhodos, Crete and Salonika (our starting point) have it. What about the others? Other advice welcome!
No avgas at Thessaloniki LGTS – not for about 10 years. On Crete, all 3 airports (Hania, Iraklion and Sitia) have avgas but Hania is semi-mil and has a long PPR.
Given that Athens LGAV is fairly pricey (upwards of €200) and Megara LGMG is not a Port of Entry, most people who need avgas enter Greece via Corfu LGKR or Samos LGSM. If you have a longer range plane (e.g. a TB20) then you can go anywhere in Greece from say Croatia. I have some writeups here and these show the general idea.
Have a nice trip – Greece is wonderful and full of friendly people 
The point is that Salonika does not officially have any Avgas. But the club does have it, and if you ask nicely, they will agree to give you a limited quantiy to get you to the next place which does officially have Avgas.
Very convenient, because particularly in the North of Greece, it is very scarce. Also, Salonika is a port of entry, which is still required both for entry and departure.
In addition to the ones you mentioned, there are Iraklion, Samos, Megara, Athens and Corfu with Avgas. Don’t know about any other inofficial sources.
Tip: if you can make it northbound, use Skopje for fuel. Works like a charm and Avgas is currently 1.15 Euros (as opposed to almost 3 in Greece).
Sky demon shows Avgas in Thessaloniki. They may be wrong! Also do you need to be a member of AOPA Greece for discounts?
I tried the unofficial route in Greece and other places over the years. A 200 litre barrel would be €600. One problem is that you will never get it in writing (because nobody wants to get into trouble) so you could land there and be stuck there. The availability also depends on the presence of certain people. Another one is that you don’t know how old the stuff is. Other clubs in Greece keep Mogas but also that isn’t normally available to visitors.
I could not find the range of a Morane Saulnier 893E but it looks like 700nm… not sure if that included reserves.
Skopje to Samos is not far.
Sky demon shows Avgas in Thessaloniki.
Tell them to check that Greek AOPA link I posted. That should be your primary reference for Greece. Virtually nobody flies down to Greece using SD for planning so errors won’t get picked up. Also LGTS notams show this:
AOPA membership (even US AOPA) gives you discounts at some airports where there is Swissport handling.
You can believe me, you can get Avgas at LGTS is you coordinate with the club beforehand. I tried it last month and it works. (Of, course, it still should rather not be mentioned in SkyDemon, since it is not official).
An AOPA membership is totally indispensable for flying in Greece. Makes the airport fees go from outrageous to acceptable.
Peter wrote:
I could not find the range of a Morane Saulnier 893E but it looks like 700nm… not sure if that included reserves.
I have long range tanks (220 liters) at 40 liters an hour. 5.5 hours without reserve, assume 108 knots an hour. I prefer landing with 1 hour fuel, so effective range is under 500M no wind.
Apart from Athens LGAV, Greece is pretty cheap. I have in front of me a €24 receipt from Swissport Samos. It would have been €48 without AOPA – still good value for where one is going and on the scale of flying costs generally. Other smaller airports are less – of the order of €10-20. There is a €9 passenger tax Avgas is not cheap though.
so effective range is under 500M no wind.
Probably the best way would be Croatia – Corfu – elsewhere in Greece – back the same way. Or the route via Belgrade LYBE (cheap avgas) and then Skopje – Samos which is 353nm great-circle.
Greece normally prefers VFR traffic on airway routes – not sure if that has changed with the recent airspace classification. @Atmilatos should know.
I plan to preposition the plane prior to start. Skopje might be good as a refueling stop. Then I would leave the plane in Thessalonika with 4.5 hours of fuel. At the end, we Might return up the other side of Greece—Corfu, Croatia, etc
I need to find my AOPA card.
