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Bordeaux LFBD

Does anyone have any recent experience of Bordeaux airport and any recommendation for a handling agent there?

Good service, they have a very cheap small car rental deal.
Only problem in Bordeaux is getting fuel, you’re bottom priority, and it’s sometimes faster to hop to Arcachon to refuel then go back to Bordeaux to clear Customs (albeit expensive).

EGTF, LFTF

Many thanks for that, I am not stopping in Bordeaux I just need to clear customs from UK and refuel.
There is nothing worse than hanging about waiting for fuel…and having to keep delaying the flight plan.
I will make contact with Map Handling to see what they say.
Alternatively I could carry on to Biarritz, but I hear that customs there can be a PITA at times.

10-15 years ago all these places France/Spain etc. were pleased to see you, I suppose that was before the
airports became lazy and the handling agents arrived.

La Rochelle is quite good because – for avgas, anyway – you can refuel and do the payment and everything to a man in a hut airside. He is off at lunchtime, of course

Otherwise, Caen is similar and very very cheap (€5 for a TB20) and again you pay everything at the airside office.

Biarritz has a reputation for hitting N-regs with inspections (apparently there is a Customs officer school there) but I have no idea whether this is one of GA’s many long-lived myths.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Biarritz has a reputation for hitting N-regs with inspections (apparently there is a Customs officer school there) but I have no idea whether this is one of GA’s many long-lived myths.

Definitely not a myth. I’ve read so many reports (not only N-regs) about people getting ramp-checked there. To the point that it has deterred me from flying there so far.

Last Edited by boscomantico at 09 Apr 17:40
Mainz (EDFZ) & Egelsbach (EDFE), Germany

Maybe I will try again at La Rochelle, last year I had a Bo…king for not booking a place on the apron to re fuel.
Does anyone have a contact at La Rochelle and also contact for customs.
Thanks.

Its OK thanks, I have found the info on the airfield website.

Here is my trip report to Bordeaux last year: http://www.abeam.be/visiting-dassault-in-bordeaux/

I used Dassault as a ad-hoc handler, but had troubles getting to BP fuel. I lost an hour.

Abeam the Flying Dream
EBKT, western Belgium, Belgium

If your only interest in Bordeaux is customs and fuel, you would definitely be better off with another airport like La Rochelle or Bergerac which is used by one of the major low-costs airlines. No handling, low fees.

You also have Limoges (Ryanair) which is very convenient, and I heard Poitiers is good too.

LFPT, LFPN

Bergerac is 24hr PNR for Customs – as are quite a few other French airports. But it is cheap and usually deserted.

The problem with using it as a stop is that the office where you pay is not airside and is a hassle, they don’t speak any English, and they seem to work just Mon-Fri and office hours only so you get the situation where you have to fly on without having paid and then you get the hssles with having to do a foreign bank payment which costs more in bank charges than the amount to pay. They do take credit cards but I recall there was just one person who could speak English and they had to locate her specially.

Poitiers can be fun to find somebody to give money to, too.

Caen is a word apart and just the best but probably not far enough south for you. Cherbourg is very similar and very handy. La Rochelle is the next best.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
30 Posts
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