Hi everyone, I am in croatia now for my time building enjoying a lot my time and the flights. As italy is pretty close, I want to fly there, but I’ve been reading a few old threads and it’s said that avgas in italy is very expensive.
I am using an aircraft from an academy which I supose that it has an AOC, would this change anything for the fuel price?
The academy will only reimburse me the amount that they pay in here croatia, and actually they use E95 which is cheaper, so if there are airfields in italy that offer 95 it would suit as well, but im finding pretty difficult to find that info!
I wouldnt like just to fly to some airfield and go back because of prohibitive fuel prices, but they are paying me back around 1€ per litre which is what they pay for E95…
Any suggestions will be very well appreciated :) thank you!
Flyfly
you won’t find any fields with fuel priced at €1 per liter. The cheapest avgas I hace come across is in Perugia at about 1.95.
Centro Serristori in the middle of Tuscany has also normal mogas which should be cheaper but I don’t know the price. Italy is full of private airfields which you will not find in the Bottlang. Try to look at the online version of Avioportolano.
Else google for aviosuperfici italia. Boscomamtico on this forum is the expert, I am sure he has lots of ideas and info and don’t get distracted too much by some endemic naysayers ;-p on this forum.
In most of Europe it is possible to get duty (and possibly VAT) free avgas if you can produce an AOC at the pump, and tell the pump man it is a “commercial” flight.
Whether this is breaking some law, I don’t know. See what your school says about the conditions for presenting their AOC.
That way, you can get below €1 per litre. And AFAIK that (not imposing duty and VAT) is how Belgrade manages to do their amazingly cheap avgas. Same with Jersey and a few others. These non EU countries can do what they like.
I have a few writeups to Italy on my website. I did various places there e.g. Albenga, Elba, Lucca, Trieste, Padova, Caglieri. Since I mostly fly there direct from the UK, these are all “proper” airfields. With the many smaller ones, the one thing to watch out for is that some of the clubs might advertise avgas but it is not (officially) available to visitors, due to the rules under which the club operates. Recently they have also had the Zika virus procedures (various threads on that here) but that may be dying down now. I have not had any real problems going to Italy. It isn’t so well organised like Croatia, Germany, Switzerland, UK, of course…
Italy does have expensive avgas in some places, with probably Elba getting the top marks. From my June 2014 writeup: “Elba LIRJ was €102 for 1 landing and 2 nights’ parking. Avgas was €3.54/litre (including 22% VAT) which makes it Europe’s most expensive.” However it is well worth a visit – very scenic.
Currently at Brac for the EuroGA fly-in :)
thanks for the comments placido and peter, i will check avioportolano and the website of the trips!
I saw that venice has a grass field in an island, could be nice the experience there!
Since Croatia is EU but not Schengen (if that hasn’t changed in the meantime), you will have the same problems as someone flying in from the UK. So you will need to enter and exit through one of the “proper” airports that Peter has mentioned.
Venice lido is a beautiful airport to go to but i wouldn’t refuel there.
Just download the Avioportolano app (for sure available for android, maybe for IOS too) and with the free account you can check the hidden world of avoisuperfici (private fields) in italy. you’ll see that there are loads of them and some are really amazing places to visit.
If you go in the app over to the available map you can see them by type and select from the menu to show you only the ones offering either Mogas or Avgas and other interesting options.
If you’re going to the tuscany area Serristori is the place to go for. Beside the fuel always available it is a beautiful place to go to. Amazing restaurant, swimming pool, in the middle of the tuscany hills and very friendly welcoming staff!
Other strategic stops for fuel are Ozzano near bologna (LIKO) or Valdera near Pisa, but then again, on the avioportolano app you have all that is required.
FYI it is common here in italy to always send either a text or an email to the contacts you find in the avioportolano app, saying on which day you will arrive and how many liters of fuel you require. Not a mandatory thing, but a mroe than appreciated gesture.
if you come further north near the milano area i’ll be happy to offer you a coffee, meeting you either at the Cogliate airfield or at LILN airport!
Let us know how the trips turns out!
flyfly wrote:
am using an aircraft from an academy which I supose that it has an AOC,…
A training facility does usually not hold an AOC (air operator’s certificate). These are two completely separate things. If you are lucky the refueler can’t tell the difference, but many of them can. And some are very alert about it because if they sell you tax free fuel without a proof that you are entitled to it (they usually keep a copy of the AOC certificate) they tax office may collect “your” tax from the fuel company.
Best ask someone in the management of your training provider about these issues.
Thanks a lot for the responses, yes I checked and it doesnt have AOC, but the academy where I took my PPL it has so it was useful in some cases.
Checking right now avioportelano, i thought it was to pay everything.
Thanks! I will let you know my plans, but weather doesnt look very nice these days…
I have found LIKO, really nice airport that also has MOGAS. Do you know any other one with asphalt and mogas?
And which email shall I have to send the FPL to fly when in italy? Thanks and safe trips!
