Flying in Italy - why so difficult?

Croatia is getting expensive in general and therefore less attractive during the high season. Hotels did ask crazy prices during August, which was far and beyond of my budget. Also most airports are not cheap. Even LDLO asks quite a lot of money for landing and few days parking. Not to mention the outrageous handling fees at LDDU.

That’s why GA practically doesn’t exist in Croatia and you won’t see Croatian tourists in these hotels very often, at least in high season.

@Emir: Maybe I need to ask the question differently: When and how do Croatians go on holidays in their own country?

Dahlbeck wrote:

It bothers me a lot more when the bigger airports, such as Visby (ESSV) have PPR for flights outside of ATS opening hours, especially when you need to call the airport admin during office hours to request it.

Fully agree. Asking for PPR at bigger airports is way more annoying, than asking for permission for a certain farm strip. Especially if you just want to visit shortly for refueling or so, which is mostly not available at farm strips, but is in fact on bigger airports.

Asking for PPR can also be very different from airfield to airfield. In Italy, it’s mostly calling a number from the Avioportolano, but you need to be prepared that the other side speaks only poorly English, if they speak English at all. At least Italians are (as mentioned before) always very welcoming people, so even with a language barrier, they try to be nice and accomodating. A total different story compared to France. Luckily, most airfields in France are “ouvert à la CAP”, otherwise I would be quite screwed. At least I know the basic radio calls in French, which I don’t know in Italian.

PPR hasn’t to be a big hassle though. In an organized country like Switzerland, where most airfields are in fact PPR, it works even quite well for spontaneous visits. Most airfields do have an automated answering machine, in case nobody picks up the phone, with these kind of messages: “The airfield is open.”

When and how do Croatians go on holidays in their own country?

They usually go to Croatian seaside in July/August but they choose cheaper accommodation, shortening it to one week, avoiding hotels and resorts.