I haven’t landed at Lille yet but had comms with them as a refuel stop for the first two flights here which were done under very difficult circumstances and I could not risk any issues. Lille communicated very well, clearly, and unusually so for a large-ish airport. I would be surprised if there were any issues there.
When I was there in 2018 just for immigration it was a quick turnaround, but only because I was on my own and didn’t need fuel. I had to wait 5-10 minutes for an airport employee to come and unlock the GA terminal, who also looked at my passport (another 5 minutes). This is out of the pilot’s control so could become frustrating if you’re in a hurry. Any passengers would have required a minibus to and from the main terminal to have their passports looked at by the police, so would have taken considerably longer.
I agree with Peter_Mundy that Lille the city is worth a visit. There’s a shuttle bus every hour, details here https://www.lille.aeroport.fr/navette/
The neighbouring grass airfield of Vitry en Artois LFQS has a Michelin-starred restaurant
I flew from Lille to UK on Sep12, actually a friend did come to pick me up from UK and I did the flight back all went super smooth (I use it regularly for Paris, with 1h TGV it’s quick and works when weather is tough, easy airspace and proper IFR infrastructure)
Here is their details, you will be parked on Charlie, they come to pick you in a car (total fee is usually 70€, I paid 30€ once or twice)
Aviation Générale ADL / ADL General Aviation
E-mail : [email protected]
Tel : +33 3 20 49 68 21
Sita : LILAPXH
Has anyone done Lille Recently? Unfortunately, my trip to Amsterdam won’t go ahead as they are locking down so need an alternative Intl trip that’s a reasonable distance. I see the following in the AIP;
General aviation assistance (AEROPORT DE LILLE SAS) : 0600-2000 PPR 48HR.
But no contact details?
The city of Lille is worth a day visit. Plenty to see, do and eat.
It wasn’t slow enough to deter me from a future day trip, provided something nice to do there / around (I don’t know if there is)
It sounds like a lot of potential time wasted if doing just a day trip.
Last time it took me 1h (evening), but that included Fuel. They did come with the big long “airliner” truck. Immigration + Paying were a bit slow and probably took 30min (paying was slow, as had to go to the GA office).
Another source of delay is that that was our only chance to eat as we were going to arrive late at destination (2h south), so we renounced principles and ate some microwaved pasta (that wasn’t as bad as thought) from a vending machine.
Ostende was a much quicker turn around.
What are the GA arrangements now at Lille? Assuming no fuel is needed, how long does it take to get in and out?