Wow, interesting...how do you come to believe that having a handling agent at a place like EDMA can save you time??
Wow, interesting...how do you come to believe that having a handling agent at a place like EDMA can save you time??
Not in EDMA, in EDDM! As I wrote higher up, a handling agent might be able to get you are more convenient parking position from where your passengers can be out and on the road in a couple of minutes. With still an hour to drive to their destination.
The calculation goes like this: Given an almost equal distance from the departure airport in Sweden to EDDM and EDMA, you might be on the ground at 10:00LT in Augsburg. Two minutes later you have reached your parking position and another two minutes later your passengers sit in the car on their way to the destination which they will reach 90 minutes later - so if all goes well traffic-wise, they will arrive at 11:35.
Going to Munich will cost you at least another ten minutes in the air, plus at least 10 minutes taxitime to a good parking position and five more minutes to get out of the terminal and into the car. With only one hour to drive, your passengers will reach their destination at 11:25. Thus they save ten minutes but with an extra expense of 10 flying minutes (approx. 300 Euros for a CJ) and 500 Euros extra for landing and handling. Without handling, they can expect to lose another 10 to 15 minutes on the ground at EDDM.
That calculation is spot on what next.
So, in as much as it would be fun to fly in to EDDM once, I still can't justify the added expense for the low gain. It looks like EDMA and ETSI are more or less the same drive and equally accessible in this case. Is Ingolstadt more fun to hang out in than Augsburg?
Is Ingolstadt more fun to hang out in than Augsburg?
It depends what you want to do in Ingolstadt. You need definetely a car to go to the town but there is the very interesting Museum Mobile which shows a lot of historic Audis and so on.
IIRC you can rent a car at ETSI for around 40€ per day, so that should give you quite some range. I would call the airport and ask for the car.
Let me know of you need more info, it's my homebase.
IIRC you can rent a car at ETSI for around 40€ per day, so that should give you quite some range. I would call the airport and ask for the car.
Yes, the company who runs the terminal (IMA) has a couple of hire cars. Definitely cheaper than a taxi, because the airport (actually it is an active military base) is quite some distance from town. They also have a Pa28 for hire in case you wish to explore the region from the air.
I wouldn't know which of the two to pick for an overnight stay. Both are very traditional Bavarian province towns. Augsburg is much older and twice as large, so from a touristical point of view has more to offer. Ingolstadt on the other hand has a younger population and probably more active street- and nightlife (not sure as we usually depart very early in the morning and therefore I rather prefer not to participate). Not eating bavarian food and drinking bavarian beer in Bavaria is kind of a sacrilege (I must know because I'm from Bavaria myself) but there is one of the best Italian restaurants that I have come across outside Italy in Ingolstadt, the Michelangelo.
One more thing that might influence your decision: Fuel prices. Munich has about the cheapest JET fuel in Germany (depending of course on your specific conditions). ETSI is about 40 percent more expensive and EDMA more than 70 percent. Can't get into more detail because this is confidential company information that might not apply to other operators anyway. But maybe a phonecall or two can make a big difference here.
Augsburg might be part of the Bundesland Bavaria but it is certainly not a Bavarian town. It's the capital of Swabia (Schwaben). It's like going to Edinburgh and stating that you're in England -- dangerous! 
Fuel prices. Munich has about the cheapest JET fuel in Germany
That would be nice, but as a private operator I think we're stuffed anyway. Germany categorically refuses to follow the EU regulations for fuel charges regarding business flights that are not conducted under an AOC.
I'll bring some jerry cans...
Augsburg might be part of the Bundesland Bavaria but it is certainly not a Bavarian town. It's the capital of Swabia (Schwaben). It's like going to Edinburgh and stating that you're in England -- dangerous!
Not a good comparison. It is more like going to Newcastle, technically England, but ....? You need to listen to Geordies. No offence.
Germany categorically refuses to follow the EU regulations for fuel charges regarding business flights that are not conducted under an AOC.
Does anyone else?
I have tried this everywhere I've been but nobody will do it. It used to work in Spain and Croatia. One is always asked to show the AOC.
It must be worth getting an AOC (the cheapest possible type) for the larger operators, because just showing it to the pump man gives you duty- and VAT-free fuel. You don't have to be operating that AOC on that flight. I think the cheapest possible AOC is an A-to-A one for pleasure flights, or maybe even for traffic spotting (I actually know somebody who got a traffic spotting AOC from the UK CAA).
