I think in the case of Switzerland it has a lot to do with the fact that the implementation of Schengen was at the time communicated with a lot of bias to pass this law through the referendum. So right, we are now part of Schengen, which solves the immigration process for the whole land border.
However, it does not solve the problem of customs and circulation of goods. And while on the land borders it is the luck of the draw if you get checked or not (I notice that on many “unmanned” border stations the customs agents wait 2-3 km into Switzerland where they check people, by which time they have comitted an offence as opposed to if they were checked at the borderpost), in aviation it is not like that. In fact, Schengen has mainly brought negative factors especcially for GA.
Before that, most airports had customs/immigration. Now only the big ones and some smaller ones do, most GA fields are ok only for Schengen departures / arrivals (where you still need to PPR the customs agents, but can no longer fly in directly from non schengen countries. Before, the PPR customs / immigration meant everywhere. In theory, you could fly from New York to Birrfeld (if you own a LR Ovation or so). No longer.
Funny aspect was, the French misread the Swiss joining of Schengen at the time and posted a message, saying Swiss airplanes do not need customs airports anymore. Hooray we said… too early. The Swiss Customs organisation promptly informed the French that customs was still needed, which lead to arrivals from Switzerland being subjected to both immigration and customs control and restricted to full customs fields. In the mean time I think they got it right, but it was a mess in the beginning.
italianjon 23-Mar-15 18:58 #06
I always thought schengen was immigration only, and that some other treaty was for the free movement of goods. I understood that Switzerland is a schengen country so immigration isn’t an issue but they are non signatories to the free movement of goods… Is that not the case?
GA traffic likelier to commit an offence, how else can we afford AVGAS these days?
Ohh thats the ticket. Whats recommended for profiting maximum Euros bearing in mind wt and balance considerations?
Now pass me a drink!
Flying abroad is a piece of cake in Europe. Compare that to the US where even a flight to Canada requires heavyweight procedures.
The only thing that makes it harder these days is that 99% of all flights do not require any sort of customs/immigration because most countries are members of Schengen and the EU. As a result, a lot of airports have given up their status as customs airport / point of entry.
My homebase has had customs status since the 1960s but it was pulled last year because the number of customs requests has gone down to almost nothing. Luckily the immigration status is still there as it’s a different police unit.
For me Switzerland remains the #1 nuisance, luckily only on the way back due to the outbound concession of Germany. I can still fly from e.g Belgrade (non EU) provided I do not leave the transit area of the airport and arrive to Belgrade from a EU airport. That is very practical.
I always thought schengen was immigration only, and that some other treaty was for the free movement of goods. I understood that Switzerland is a schengen country so immigration isn’t an issue but they are non signatories to the free movement of goods… Is that not the case?
There is free movement of goods within the EU, so no customs there. Since Switzerland is not an EU-member, you need customs.
The toll-free area includes the non-EU countries Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein, so I assume that no customs would be needed when flying between these countries and the EU.
Whats recommended for profiting maximum Euros bearing in mind wt and balance considerations?
Lol, no idea BUT think of all the flying that you could do with the cash pile after all of the saved rent/mortgage/food/utility payments while serving the prison time… 
Good luck finding an airport in Liechtenstein.
BTW, it’s Liechtenstein, not Lichtenstein. There was almost a state crisis last year or so when Skyguide printed Lichtenstein instead of Liechtenstein on the ICAO VFR chart.
The toll-free area includes the non-EU countries Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein, so I assume that no customs would be needed when flying between these countries and the EU.
I had asked this question to the German federal customs police. The answer was very clear: no. These countries have zero customs on many things but they are not in a customs union and therefore you have to clear customs when coming from one of those countries.
GA airports w/ customs in UK
Hi guys,
I am an Australian living and working in the UK. I used to fly when I lived in Australia but work and living in various countries around the world the last 10 years has seriously stunted my ability to get up in the air. My Australia license is now non-current.
I am looking at completing the euro ppl and taking on some cross channel trips. I am aware that there are GA friendly airport and airfields in Europe that support customs but how about the reverse when coming back in to the UK? As a non-euro passport holder I would need to have any comings and goings recorded!
cheers
Tim
Hi Tim,
Good luck with regaining your (legal) ability to fly!
As a non-euro passport holder I would need to have any comings and goings recorded!
This has nothing to do with your passport and to be even a bit more pedantic, it’s also not a customs issue.
UK is not a part of the Schengen area (which allows free movements of people within participating member states in Europe). Hence any person entering or leaving the UK will need to pass through border controls, regardless of their passport or nationality.
UK is, however, a member of the European Union customs union (which allows free movements of goods within participating member states). Hence there is no need to pass through customs when entering or leaving the UK towards/from any other member of the European Union customs union.
Having said that, I believe that in the UK, both immigration and customs are handled through the same authority (we have discussed this before, here) and in General Aviation, the two are usually dealt with in concert and people colloquially just refer to “customs airports”.
I think that for a non EU passport holder, flying between the UK and say France requires an exit GAR form to be filed (4hrs’ prior notice?) and the usual entry GAR too also with 4hrs’ notice.
If you (and everybody else on the aircraft) had an EU passport, the exit GAR (i.e. departing from the UK) is not needed.
The UK doesn’t really have the “customs airport” (a Port of Entry) thing which so much complicates international aviation. As far as the UK authorities are concerned, you can fly between a farm strip, and Kathmandu, with a load of Vietnamese It is all taken care of by the GAR form system, and the number of hours of notice you have to give depends on the type of flight and the classification of the airport.
