LFHNflightstudent wrote:
I think it is a very sensible thing to do to make it as difficult as possible for UK citizens to move around within the common market pre Brexit
I wouldn’t put it quite like that, but since a major reason for the Brexit vote was to prevent the free movement of EU citizens to the UK, UK citizens cannot reasonably expect to have free movement into the remaining EU. These kind of things are usually reciprocal.
This action might be alleged to be due to one or more of the following reasons
1) a coordinated top-political-level action to stick a finger up to the UK, as a revenge for Brexit / a hardline pre-Brexit negotiating position
2) a desire to stick a finger up to the UK at some lower individual (freelance) level
3) resource management / reallocation due to a perceived shortage of police in France, following recent terrorist events, and maybe related to the Calais refugee camp (which is causing huge problems in terms of local crime)
4) a turf war / negotiating position between parts of the French Establishment
One French insider tells me it is 3) only.
I also think 1) – alleged by some posters above, and probably wished by approximately 50% of mainland Europe (the other approx-50% would like a referendum of their own so they could vote OUT 
) – should manifest itself as a much more coordinated action, and we are not seeing that. Since we are talking about GA facilities here, they would go and f-k Le Touquet first 
Caen was used a lot as a very cheap port of entry (€4.80 for a TB20, when I used it for St Yan and Libourne in 2014) but few GA people visited the city. Whenever I went there, the airport was deserted… like Rouen and most others up there except Le Touquet.
2) may be present in isolated cases. This happens… Many sporadic reports of gratuitous anti N-reg discrimination in southern Europe, over the years, especially following some US military action (and a major reason given by bizjet owners I have spoken to for moving N to M).
We shall see if this spreads. But the use of the GAR format is interesting. If properly implemented, it is a great system.
Whatever people’s political views, the UK is currently part of the EU and must be treated accordingly. It’s not a school yard (where that sort of treatment is no longer accepted either!).
If I was a politician in France, and I was (wrongly) minded to get revenge for BREXIT, making it a bit more inconvenient for a small number of people who travel by GA wouldn’t really be top of my agenda. In fact, very few politicians of significance in France probably have any idea how such a move would upset GA, or how it works. They would tarket much bigger, more widespread, items.
I’m sure this relates to 3.
I agree that it is 3), but it is worth noting that Annemasse is still PN 1 hour and Calais 2 hours. Also that the UK NCU requires 4 hr PN for flights inbound from Europe, not 24 hours as mentioned above. Well, that was the case last weekend…
The French state of emergency must be stretching internal security resources just as past reluctance to spy upon their own people creates an intelligence deficit. They can’t control the intra-Schengen flow of people and arms so all they can do is to secure their external Schengen borders – and pray. We can’t blame them for that, even though it may be ineffective.
As for Brexit, mountain pilots are hardly a representative sample of European society, but last weekend I detected neither spite nor jealousy among them, just a pragmatic acceptance that some people’s national temperament favours self-government. The Swiss, for instance, would vote to leave the EU tomorrow, if they hadn’t already voted many times not to join.
I have noticed no ill feeling whatsoever towards the British post Brexit.
The shortage of police (and army) is very real. (I’m not discussing if their workload is justified or efficient. I’m saying they don’t have the numbers for it).
We will definitely see 1, because the scariest prospect for mainstream French politicians is a presidential campaign fought on the subject of a referendum. I actually wouldn’t be surprised to see Sarkozy play with this idea, even if Europe is one of the things he probably really believes in, because realistically that’s his only chance of being elected; however Le Pen should rationally go full blast on this.
And the only way Hollande and co can prevent this is by demonstrating, before the election in may 2017, that Brexit is a disaster for Britain. Same thing for Merkel, btw. It will also help keeping Poland, Hungary etc. quiet.
So they’re fully incentivised to make it a disaster, even if it costs their own countries economically.
But as DublinPilot says, messing with UK GA is definitely not the way they will go about it.
Thanks @Peter for the heads up.
Closing of Schengen Border Crossing Points at 13 French airports is imminent but the Union of French Airports is opposing it.
Articles published this week, including the list.
http://www.aeroport.fr/uploads/documents/CP-SUPPRESSION%20PPF.pdf
It was TJ who posted this first so I can’t claim the credit
And the only way Hollande and co can prevent this is by demonstrating, before the election in may 2017, that Brexit is a disaster for Britain
Short of nuclear war, that is clearly impossible by May 2017.
I know the FTSE100 is not everything but currently UK PLC is refusing to lie down and die and regardless of what happens I can’t see anything significant happening by May 2017.
Especially as the relevance of that date is obvious to all involved
the Union of French Airports is opposing it.
I am not surprised. Nearly all airport costs are fixed costs so every GA flight’s €xx goes straight to the bottom line.
Peter wrote:
This action might be alleged to be due to one or more of the following reasons1) a coordinated top-political-level action to stick a finger up to the UK, as a revenge for Brexit / a hardline pre-Brexit negotiating position
2) a desire to stick a finger up to the UK at some lower individual (freelance) level
I find this schizophrenia about France deliberately making life difficult for the Brits very far fetched. If that were the case you can be sure that there would be a big coordinated effort across all airfields accompanied by smart statements to make sure the Brits did understand that this was “retaliation” (understatement is not a latin forte). This is just childish. If they really wanted to get to you, they would close Le Touquet. Please also keep in mind that French France-based pilots, including yours truly, are also hindered by this, so it would not only be a finger up to the British pilots, but also to the French.
At least in the case of Caen, what we see is one Customs office that tries to organise itself so that it can face the workload. What you need to understand is that the same Customs office is responsible for border control both at the Caen airport and at the Ouistreham ferry terminal, driving back and forth according to the flight and ferry schedules. The morale is therefore also, if you plan to fly in or out of Caen, make sure you try to do so in between two ferry arrivals or departures at Ouistreham.
With respect to the 13 airfields that may lose their status, most western european countries are in Schengen, which minimises the impact of closing border-crossing points. And given the current resource situation, they do not wish to keep them open just for the few of us who regularly fly between CI/UK and the continent, or the slightly greater number that do it once every 3 years.
Not to worry – Deutsche and Commerzbank will free up enough space there…
Honestly, the timeframe for this to play out is five years to a decade.
The fledgling bird of Britain has jumped out of the nest. The first few seconds are no indication whether it will soar with the Eagles, or plummet to the ground and eaten by the foxes.
This has little to do with Brexit – what we see is the slow unwind of open borders and Schengen itself; sadly this has peaked. border control for EU nationals has nothing to do with immigration, the right to enter is completel different from the right to stay.
I don’t know about the others, but I guess (or hope) that as long as there’s a constant stream of these machines dropping from the land of cuckoo clocks, banks and $100 filets de Perches onto his runway at Annemasse, the Mayor will find a way to keep some form of Customs and Immigration facilities:
