Am I required to hire a firm for handling? Was quoted 96 EUR by one. I have agreed with the flying club about hangarage. But what does “handling” mean in this case? Sending a marshaller out to me?
I’m beginning to wonder how good an idea this idea is in the summer heat! And the charges (and fuel costs) also kind of diminish enthusiasm!
Make sure you have a valid AOPA CREW CARD. That alone will reduce the handling fee to around € 25, but I think it has to be either Goldair or Swissport!
Goldair says the need 2 days notice for the lower rate.
I may be stuck, but I will never use them again if I have any choice in the matter. Some of this horseshit makes me want to sell the plane and never go near an airport except as a passenger again.
What exactly is an AOPA crew card? Is it different from a membership card?
I think it’s the same, my AOPA card says “Crew card”. Maybe check if Swissport is there too, or tell Goldair that you will use Swissport. I had a similar incident once, when (on the way to Crete) they accepted the Crew card and on the way back they wouldn’t. I simply refused to pay the 1xx Euros and told them to “go ahead and call the police” ;-), because they threatened to do so. Then I had a coffee. After 15 minutes they came and said “you don’t have to pay anything, get lost!”. Well, that was easy :-)
Don’t worry, normally once you’re there you can talk with them.
I flew to Thessaloniki 6 weeks ago and with an AOPA card for the Comanche we paid 38 euros for the week for parking and handling with Swissport.
The reality of Thessaloniki turned out better. Goldair said that if I can show an AOPA card on return, the rate will be as mentioned above. I have to say both approach and tower do a good job of intergrating SEP traffic with the airliners/charters. Overall, quite impressed with the airport and handling. BTW Skopje gets an A+ (might be a good location for a fly in). It’s not just the cheap avgas (1.1 EUR/liter), but the whole operation from approach to handing is quite friendly to GA, reasonably priced, and efficient. I also liked that they had briefing packs (both NOTAMs and Weather) prepared for me for my ongoing flight.
