Oh, thanks for that. Terribly confusing pricing then. I paid more, as others seem to (see the 2012 pireps on eddh.de) Don't forget to ad ~15 euros for dfs, though...
Anyway, OT.
Interesting. My bill was:
plus DFS as you say.
The landing fee is doubled if you can't make -4 dB(A) but I don't understand why you would have been charged so much.
The landing fee is doubled if you can't make -4 dB(A)
How does this work?
I have occassionally been asked for a noise certificate, which I can rarely produce because when I am asked it is in the back of the plane (about 4 versions of it, for different incarnations of my aircraft, airframe S/N only, G-reg, N-reg, etc) 
It seems that producing it reduces the fees, but what is actually on it doesn't mean anything.
In fact, for an N-reg, there is an ICAO process whereby you produce your own one.
I recall paying about £30 extra at Grenchen, in 2004, when I could not produce it, but that is the only clear thing I remember.
Peter, see the thread on PPL/IR. You just print one yourself and hand it to them.
Albenga, LIMG, is a small international airport on the Liguarian coast. Very efficient (cause they have very little traffic;-), very nice and helpful people, expensive AVGAS, an onsite bar and a private car service to Alassio. Internatinal landing and handling charges will be about 70 Euros. You have to call for customs 3 hrs in advance. The airport has a very daunting loc approach amid mountains, but most of the time it will be VMC anyways.
Placido
Peter, see the thread on PPL/IR. You just print one yourself and hand it to them.
That's not an issue; as I said I have several of them already.
One of them came from Socata, even before they had a tail number for the aircraft.
My Q was how Bookworm's db(A) figure was determined.
I have been to a number of German airports and most of them either don't care, or just bill you some higher figure without mentioning that if you had the NC it would be lower
My noise level is in the POH.
Is it typically only those who are doing European trips (I mean from one country to another), or who are flying IR that need FBO's?
I am in the VFR/IMC category of GA flyer (I dont have a full IR) so I do have a different flight profile to the OP I think, but not in the UK or in France, have I wanted a FBO. I accept a need for an increased landing fee at some of the larger airports, but 'handling' seems to me be a bit of a con if it is mandatory. I have no problem with it being optional if someone wants to use the services or have a bit of luxury. One should be able to get a cup of coffee, toilets, somewhere for passengers to hang out, a fax machine, and even access to some form of weather, for free.
Most things I think I would want, I could get from an iPad and an internet connection. Failing that, I have the charts and a full copies of Pooleys, and any IFR plates I might want as a backup, and just a telephone call is all I would need.
What exactly is an American FBO or European FBO?
Unless you're doing bush/strip flying, any sizeable airport requires you to present yourself into some facility that rents ground space from the airport (unless its one of the 'terminal buildings' belonging to the airport itself).
These are known as FBOs which could be cargo handling companies, ground handling companies, flying schools, flying clubs, and aircraft maintenance and servicing. Each of these companies may offer various flight planning support services, easy car-hire and hotel booking services, access to weather terminals etc.
Nobody in GA "needs" FBOs.
The term "FBO" (Fixed Base Operator) comes from the USA.
But that is where the relevance ends.
In the USA, most aviation is subsidised by the local city and/or by the FAA (the US general taxpayer). They also keep the margin on the fuel sold, which makes a huge contribution. So the charges are usually very low, or zero. A friend in Florida gets a free car to borrow for the day, a shower, etc.
In Europe, this is rarely the case. There is rarely a local or national subsidy. Most of the fuel price is tax which goes to the govt. A UK airport makes around 30p/litre gross profit on avgas, out of nearly £2. So "FBOs" charge a lot more, in general. Also they do because they can, or think they can. In reality they just depress the traffic, but that is somebody else's responsibility...
Another component in Europe is that many airport managers' eyes glaze over when the magic 3-letter word is mentioned (JET) so they much prefer that type of business over piston GA. At one fairly big UK airport, the manager describes piston GA as "dirty"; they charge £150 for a TB20 to land and park for 1 night. And the management permits the creation of "mandatory handling" cartels which set up for the bizjet traffic and that jacks the pricing up.
I believe mandatory handling is illegal unless there are 2 or more options, but in reality they just fix prices, everywhere. There was some rumour going around recently that the EU was going to make mandatory handling illegal anyway, which would be great!
If you have a functioning airport you don't need "handling". You just need somewhere to pay for fuel and parking etc. Many airports are indeed thus set up; there is no separate business there. But aviation history goes back decades and "handling" is an established part of that culture, so starting with a clean sheet is difficult.
The slickest ops I recall were Cannes (France), Ljubljana and Portoroz (Slovenia). They even handed me a nice weather briefing; not needed (due to mobile internet) but still nice.
The absolutely poshest was Harrods Handling at Luton (where thankfully I drove to, for a meeting, but a couple of white-faced PA28 pilots flew there without checking the cost first) which charged ~£400, on top of the ~£100 landing fee. Superb coffee and croissants and well dressed well spoken women who were definitely not on the national minimum wage
For GA, none of the above is needed. This is where a lot of places score highly. In Greece, you can dump an old car (a VW, so it always starts ) near the airport entrance and when you fly there every few months it is still there. Same at Cherbourg and possibly LeTouquet. These little privileges are priceless.
You won't get car hire at an airport unless there is a certain amount of traffic which means scheduled flights, and often the hire outfits close in between the flights.
