I flew to Biarritz from the UK a few weeks ago. Heard some negative things before I left but had no problems with them at all. They wouldn’t give me an arrival slot before 1800 local on the Saturday, due to “inbound flights”, which could have been annoying but I wasn’t planning on arriving much earlier anyway.
The ops guys were very friendly and helpful and very quick to respond to emails as per the OP’s experience.
Dropped in there again on way back from Spain a few days later, again no problems, other than a 20 minute wait for fuel which was slightly annoying, but apparently this is typical when they have a commercial arrival.
To be fair their GA apron is not that huge and is also used for the bizjets, when I was there a Falcon or similar was taking up a couple of rows worth of space so on a mid August weekend it’s not that hard to see it getting full. I don’t remember any grass parking alternatives but presumably they could find space somewhere if they were inclined to.
The procedure for small (<2t?) aircraft and intra-Schengen at LESO is to email ops requesting GA apron stand space. If there’s space you get a email straight back confirming the stand # and the fees. No handling required – and of course, none given either. You “handle” your aircraft onto the stand manually yourself.
I am certain that this procedure is not in the AIP, but it does appear normal practice, and was my personal experience a few weeks ago. Sadly, I’ve already binned the email exchange in my quest for tidiness.
On the same trip, I spoke at length with ops at LFBZ, overlooking an almost empty apron on a late June morning. The issue is weekend traffic in the summer.
One critical thing to add to this otherwise mildly negative thread:
Biarritz, Hondarabbia, San Sebastiàn are all great places to visit, though possibly not in August.
Ok, it is not clear whether Rob enquired about an arrival from the UK or from Schengen. But I definitely remember people reporting they were required to use the handling agent despite coming from Schengen…
I am keen on really finding out, because San Sebastian is indeed a nice place and if it costs me 100€ in landing and parking fees, I might go there again, but if they charge me another say 100 Euros for handling, I might give it a pass.
Boscomantico.
I emailed them saying I was arriving from EGJB (Guernsey), they then just passed me onto Iberia. Iberia has emailed back confirming my handling request and even given me a stand number, but has not indicated any costs. I have emailed them back asking for costs, but no response yet.
When we were at LESO earlier this year the handling (Iberia) was 60 euros, can’t remember what the landing fee was.
You don’t actually get much for the handling, not even a minibus to the terminal !
Hi everybody,
I’m in Biarritz (LFBZ) right know. I spook with the guy at the general aviation desk:
During what they mine “hot days” (weekend in summer) they have 3 spots that you can book (A1 A2 A3)…
A4 is reserved for emergency and the rest of the apron is for private jet…
Ridiculous…
Romain
Jets probably pay more per sq.m. than us… It’s a matter of maximizing profit. Very capitalistic. 
I am traveling to LESO tomorrow and all I did is file a FP. I just called the operator as per the tel.nr. available in Jeppesen. With a bit of English, French Spanish? I understood there was no problem, I was authorized and I said I need no handling. I will see tomorrow and report my experience.
I was told once that LESO San Sebastian Hondarribia required handling only if you came from an airport with no security.
