Deauville LFRG – no more “no prior notice” customs / immigration
A little heads up, particularly to the UK pilots: Deauville has recently lost its “no prior notice” customs / immigration Status. They now require, like all the other French airports without very regular airline traffic, 24/48h of prior notice. This is currently in a NOTAM, so no idea is this is permanent or whether it’s a just a seasonal thing, but I am afraid it isn’t.
Very bad…
B4440/19 NOTAMR B4429/19
Q) LFFF/QFZAP/IV/NBO/A /000/999/4922N00010E005
A) LFRG B) 1911150945 C) 1912311700
E) CUSTOMS :
MON-FRI : MINIMUM 24HR COMPULSORY FLIGHT NOTICE
SAT, SUN, 25 DEC : MINIMUM 48HR COMPULSORY FLIGHT NOTICE
BY MAIL : OPERATIONS(A)AEROPORTDEAUVILLE.COM
PHONE : +33(0)2 31 65 65 65
CREATED: 15 Nov 2019 09:46:00
SOURCE: EUECYIYN
That effectively closes the airport to UK flights, since most fly on weekends.
That really sucks. I used them when I forgot to give enough notice to the other airports!
Peter wrote:
That effectively closes the airport to UK flights
Only spontaneous ones. You just have to plan a couple of days ahead, which is a PITA, but not insuperable.
Noe wrote:
That really sucks. I used them when I forgot to give enough notice to the other airports!
I also use them as an enroute alternate (ie, if the fuel I am carrying doesn’t feel good for getting back to the UK, I lob in there) so that becomes a real pain :-(
Most people are VFR only so very wx sensitive. This will remove a lot of traffic from French airports, with knock-on effects further down because LFRG was often used to clear immigration. However, it is clear from many indicators e.g. this and this that airport economics or even viability are not a factor under consideration.
Pity to lose that, but it seems seasonal for this year end
Just looked at a couple of aérodromes I thought had lost customs/immigration :
Abbeville LFOI which says
And Le Tréport LFAE which says
Does anyone have any first hand experience of these? It might make a nice change from Le Touquet. I guess I can always call them
What is “one-time service”? Is it bad translation from French?
It’s exactly what google translate says 
It’s a one-off (or, depending on context, punctual, i.e. on time for appointment/restaurant/shop)
Doesn’t really help though
