I just contacted Pula airport for PPR and parking for arrival this weekend for 4 days and was amazed to get a reply telling me that they cant because of parking space limitations!!!
I have been to this wonderful airport several times over the last few years. It was almost empty. And the ramp is huge. Does anyone know what is going on there please?
It’s high summer. Even in years past, it used to happen sometimes in July and August that they did this. The area dedicated to light GA parking is actually rather small.
Good news is that nearby Medulin LDPM paved their runway a year ago. Needs an immigration stop if coming from the UK of course. A bit dear on parking charges though, as I‘ve heard.
Try Rijeka LDRI. Very friendly and loads of space. They are adamant they will never push out GA.
Very nice location.
Thanks for the info. It still surprises me about Pula, the ramp is HUGE. If they wanted to they could find room for dozens of GA aircraft.
I am trying Portoroz, as my destination is Rovinj. Not much further than Pula.
@buckerfan
LJPZ for C/I then on to LDPV… just a swim through Linski to Rovinj.
I had the same issue back in 2019. We therefore just landed in LDPL for immigration and continued to LDPM, which was a very short hop (no FPL required). I remember that the huge apron was almost empty, even though parking was not possible. Also for immigration, PPR was mandatory and after I had to delay my FPL from Graz, the FPL was refused, so I had to E-Mail OPS in Pula again for a new PPR, which was granted in just a few minutes and finally resent FPL. The fees were very cheap though… I paid something like 11 EUR for technical landing up to 1.000 kg MTOW.
Landing in Medulin (LDPM) was free of charge back then. It only had a bit of asphalt for local airplanes and take-off roll. The main runway was still grass, where we landed. Parking outside was also free, which we did. A hangar parking spot did cost however 25 EUR. The owner was very nice and organized an accommodation for us in the main August season for a decent price, directly in the center of Medulin, while the town was fully booked online. LDPM offers also an inofficial “Bora-runway”, which we used to take off during moderate Bora winds.
Buckerfan wrote:
I have been to this wonderful airport several times over the last few years. It was almost empty. And the ramp is huge. Does anyone know what is going on there please?
They are simply not interested in adapting their huge apron to accommodate more aircrafts. As many other holiday destinations they are interested in quick turnaround unloading and loading passengers with minimum apron occupancy.
Buckerfan wrote:
I am trying Portoroz, as my destination is Rovinj. Not much further than Pula.
LDPV is your airport of choice but definitely contact in advance just in case, contacts to be found in Croatian VFR Manual and take into consideration it’s 700 m of paved runway. In the past customs and immigration was possible with PPR.
boscomantico wrote:
Good news is that nearby Medulin LDPM paved their runway a year ago.
I’m not sure LDPM works at all. I haven’t been there for a while but it’s delisted from VFR Manual.
Jeez, I just tried to get Pula to allow me to park for a weekend, starting at 7.30 pm local time on a friday. But this time it is 6 weeks away in the future. And I STILL got the standard email response about “lack of parking space”. This is effing ridiculous. Of course they have parking space. This really pisses me off. How can they not have a single GA parking space available six weeks in the future!!!
I’m not sure LDPM works at all. I haven’t been there for a while but it’s delisted from VFR Manual.
Well, it does seem to „work“ for several people, in terms of being allowed to fly in and park without any problems. Whether it is 100% legal from a CAA POV, not sure.
They are simply not interested in adapting their huge apron to accommodate more aircrafts. As many other holiday destinations they are interested in quick turnaround unloading and loading passengers with minimum apron occupancy.
What “adaptation” is required? And how are those two possibilities incompatible given a huge parking area?
Them being disinterested in collecting money that requires almost zero expense or effort to earn would indicate something strange is going on, not something simple.
