This one is mainly for Emir.
Have you heard it through the grapevine what the procedures will be?
In future, Croatia will be a case of EU-member=yes and Schengen-member=no, so fundamentally like the UK and Ireland.
That would mean (at least in the absence of special arrangements like the british GAR system) that one would still have to fly via customs airports (because usually only customs airports allow passport controls). That would a pity though. Flying direct to Medulin, Unije and Hvar would be nice.
Any good hopes for some pragmatic solution for private GA flights?
According to the border police in Mali Losinj LDLO last week, everything will remain as is. For private travel, they have never cared much about the EU (free movement of goods) aspect, more about the non-Schengen aspect (i.e. check your passport).
Quite comical about this whole subject is that Brits should wish for Schengen to not receive any further extensions. Every new country added will further decrease demand for customs airports and they will close down. See France. When Croatia joins Schengen, the same thing can eventually happen. Right now there is a constant presence of border police, next is PNR, then PPR, then PPR for a hefty fee (like in Switzerland) and then no customs.
Maybe the UK AOPA/CAA should lobby for an agreement between the UK and Schengen to introduce the GAR process. That would be the smartest solution for lack of Britain's willingness to digest anything more Euro.
When Croatia joins Schengen, the same thing can eventually happen.
What I heard is that Croatian airports get a lot of Russians, and Customs will always be needed for that.
Also, on departure from LDLO last week, the only person I saw was the one policeman. He looked at my passport, checked it against the computer, and off I went. That's how it should be - a "Customs airport"!
In the UK you would have a dozen ex ISO9000 quality managers making a meal out of it.
What I heard is that Croatian airports get a lot of Russians, and Customs will always be needed for that.
I find that hard to believe. Croatia and Russia do not have close historical ties (that is an euphemism) and I have hardly ever seen Russians there. Russians have close ties with Serbia and Montenegro and prefer the latter for vacationing.
And even if there was such traffic, with Croatia joining Schengen, at least 80% of the current border checks would be no longer necessary (given that most GA aircraft are from Schengen members) which would remove 80% of the justification and in constant need of cutting costs you can imagine what is eventually going to happen.
The only chance for UK flyers to ensure a large choice of destination aerodromes is to extend the GAR process to Schengen members. Customs status of GA airfields is being pulled gradually and from what I hear Germany is going to follow France's path.
However, an airport needs a policeman to guard it, so why not just have Customs and get extra business at zero cost?
The UK rumour explaining why France dropped theirs was that the EU demands a certain minimum % of random checks (if you are not doing 100% checking, as they do in Croatia) and the French airports were operating below that level (which is self evidently true; I have never had my passport looked at anywhere in France) and France decided, instead of ramping up the checking % (which would cost more money) to just drop the whole thing.
It looks that OP question has been answerd: "customs" airports will remain only entry point for GA flights until 2015 when Schengen regime should start in Croatia.
However, an airport needs a policeman to guard it
Why? The only airports in Germany that have guards are the really large ones. Staff presence is the #1 cost driver for running an airport. In the US, a typical municipal airport has almost zero operating cost while here every little grass airfield has staff. That's one of the reasons GA is not doing so well over here.
Sometimes one would wish there were guards, there are regular cases of vandalism and for example our airfield is regularly abused by youngsters during the night for illegal racing.
That would be disappointing, but I expected so. As Achim pointed out, while nobody seems to purposely destroy GA in Croatia, at the same time, nobody really seems to care (in positive terms) about GA either. That's a shame; they could do so much more and attract more high value traffic, but I get the impression that the ministry of tourism and the ministry of transport don't comunicate well on this front. Most probably, there really is nobody who knows what GA is.
The only airports in Germany that have guards are the really large ones.
Croatia is a much more "militarised" country - a bit like Greece. Every port has an armed policeman hanging around. It's a different culture, and it works in our favour.
And I agree regarding vandalism. Here in the UK, there have been sporadic major cases but on the whole I think we have been extremely lucky that the local scum have not yet discovered this opportunity to wreck something valuable. How long this will continue I don't know but I think we are living on borrowed time. I am certainly glad my airport has a night guard hanging around.
Most probably, there really is nobody who knows what GA is.
Possibly because Croatia has almost zero domestic GA. Emir here is one of only a couple of Croatian pilots I have come across, out of several thousand I have "met" over the past 11 years.
What I heard is that Croatian airports get a lot of Russians, and Customs will always be needed for that.
Probably the russians coming in Croatia use jets rather than SEP and therefore use airports rather than airfields.
However, an airport needs a policeman to guard it.
In France, I'd say that most of the airfields have no guards, no police, no custom and even no fence. Even if they have an AFIS agent or a manned tower. It is true that the number of "guarded" airports increases when airline companies (especially low cost ones) use them as a cheaper substitute to larger airport. But on a whole, GA airfields like Cannes where even local pilots have to show their fingerprints to enter the apron are scarce. Fortunately.
