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Rotterdam EHRD - good news regarding handling...

In a situation like this, 30 EUR is not totally unreasonable for a one-time visitor, but I wonder – maybe Len could ask them – if one wants to come on a regular basis, is it possible to join the club and pay yearly dues instead of handling fees (and hopefully have lower landing fees as well)?

LKBU (near Prague), Czech Republic
Oh, I love these phrases…
Anyway, not the fault of the aeroclub.

As if they actually security check anything to do with visiting aircraft. They just make sure you are paying for handling.

EGTK Oxford

@Lenthamen

What is new about this?

I have been arranging this for a few years now through the other Club .. The Rotterdam Aeroclub

.. The VCR has a real nice setup at the end of Lima which indeed makes going in and out very easy.
.. The RAC uses lima and Foxtrot. Foxtrot means is near the jetcenter. The RAC is much closer to the mainterminal with the taxis and rental cars.

Both setups can work advantageously .. I am unsure what the RAC charges … If any.. I once proposed 25,- but to the best of my knowledgge it has never been invoiced…

The whole problem is started when a reporter once flew from Groningen to Rotterdam. At the time you were allowed to park on the main deck (Alpha or Bravo) .. In front of the Rac. He then walked to and stepped into a Transavia 737 and wrote a story about how leak the security was..

Now you are only allowed on fox and lima. (On fox I park my car next to the hangar which is great!)
They guard the zone leaving fox and or lima by camera’s.

All non based aircraft except a few who really come often have to be escorted .. Also if you go to vcr. No bus will be involved.

All pax are free for local flights.

On international flights The second pob (wether pax or copilot) is always considered a copilot and is free.. For the third and so on you pay € 35,- for security charges.

Landing fee is approx €18,5 ex vat for my 1499kg commander + € 13,50 for atc charges .. All ex vat.

Landing in for example Lelystad or Seppe is a lot more expensive.

Last Edited by Commander at 07 Oct 22:31

What is new about this?

What is new is that the aeroclub now has the official status of being a handling agent…

@boscomantico: The aeroclub handling basically means access to airside/landside. There’s won’t be any security hassle.
You could argue whether the 30EUR handling charge by the aeroclub is fair. There are airports (like Cambridge or Jersey) where the aeroclub does the handling for free.
Part of the fee will probably be staffing costs, but I’m just speculating here. I don’t have insight in the underlying costs…

Anyway: If you need to get into Rotterdam, it’s good to know that you can use the aeroclub as a handling agent. You will keep 100-150EUR in the pocket, and getting on/off the airport will probably be quicker since there is no security involved…

A positive step in the right direction.

All airports must be able to offer self handling (via an Aeroclub if need be).

Many handling agents have taken advantage of “mandatory handling” enforced at many airports, charging €50-€250 for a C152 or similar which is frankly ridiculous.

Last Edited by James_Chan at 08 Oct 17:04

All airports must be able to offer self handling (via an Aeroclub if need be).

Well that is clearly not going to happen. Better that there is a cheaper handling at Rotterdam but you are still paying for handling.

Shame about the MTOW cutoff.

EGTK Oxford

Well that is clearly not going to happen.

Well then such airports could be operating in violation of Article 7 of EU Council Directive 96/67/EC (15 October 1996).

Last Edited by James_Chan at 08 Oct 22:18

James, have you actually read all of that directive? Do you really think it is enforceable?

Last Edited by JasonC at 08 Oct 22:41
EGTK Oxford

As far as I’m aware:
- A number of people at AOPA UK and IAOPA EU has
- Its enforcement partly depends on how member states transpose that into national law.
- There’s a plan to change this directive into a regulation but it was postponed last year due to protests from ground handling unions for fear of losing their jobs.

OK guys, let me give you further clarification here. (I am actually a Board member of the Vliegclub Rotterdam, I organized all of this EHRD handling)

But first the good news:
As of April 2015, we have successfully convinced the airport to drop those ridiculous passenger & security fees for passengers flying abroad on aircraft below 2000kgs MTOW.

Some responses to remarks posted above:
- PPR previous day (especially for international arrivals or departures) is because we need to inform customs & border police on all international movements. And they want us to have the flights info in general the day before. If they only would start to use the airport information system, like we already do………
- We have paid staff, that need to care of security (visual surveillance, checking of visitors) and they are present every day 9.00 – 18.00 LT. We need to do some paperwork (inform Customs & Border Police, register your flight details in the airport information system. All of this comes at a cost. I think a reasonable one.
- Indeed, we have our ‘own’ access to airside, which is priceless at EHRD. But we have to safeguard that, that’s why we always need to have staff for oversight.
- We have all our facilities for you to use, we can support you preparing your flights, etc. We have Internet, preflight PCs, etc.
- MTOW is limited to 2000kgs ,because in general the heavier the aircraft gets, the wider the wingspan. And THAT’s the problem at our location. limited clearance on the taxiway from obstacles alongside, and parked aircraft. Furthermore, 98% of recreational flights are done in small aircraft less than 2000kg. We may only handle recreational private traffic, no commercial traffic. So with this limitation, this effectively blocks any ‘business or commercial’ flights looking for a bargain. We agreed to leave that traffic for the commercial handlers on the field. Fair deal.
- The landing fees of Rotterdam themselves are lower than the average GA airfield in The Netherlands. Yes I know, we are an expensive flying country.
- Keep in mind that we have brought down total pricing to visit Rotterdam with 75%, and all of that took us 1 year of hard work and countless meetings. I have been paying handling fees at other aeroclubs throughout Europe, it’s quite common.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

So you are invited to visit this nice airfield close to the city of Rotterdam. Happy landings!

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