they pay for it dearly by having almost no GA going there nowadays
Isn’t that the idea?
Somehow a lot of these airport managers these days seem to believe that banning GA will solve all their problems at once plus give them a bonus. Or how do you explain the extermination campaign many of these airports lead against GA…. Their problem mostly is that banning GA outright is against the law, so they do it by rising their fees until no GA shows up as onone wants to pay this.
Like Peter said, it is not all bad in Spain. Especially the east coast has a lot of interesting and cheap fields. Quite a few are run privately which makes for a relaxed and open atmosphere. From north to south on the eastern side of the country, mainly the coast, here’s some fields without obligatory handling:
La Seu, Andorra, LESU: beautiful new runway on top of a cut-off hill.
La Cerdanya (LECD), east of La Seu: in a wide valley in the middle of the Pyrenees. Good restaurant, holiday-like atmosphere.
Empuriabrava (LEAP), just across the pyrenees along the coast. Lots of action by way of parajumpers.
Sabadell (LELL), the only real gateway for light GA to Barcelona. Great and cheap handler (100alas) who brings you into town, like Peter mentioned.
Reus (LERS), biggish field, used by Ryanair, reasonable fees, 20-30 euros
Castellon (LECN), very nice little privately run field, you can’t land anywhere closer to the sea than here, unless you land on a beach.
Murcia (LELC), in the Reus category.
Malaga (LEAX), your alternative to the main airport with its rip-off fees. A bit away from the city though.
Inland Madrid’s ‘cuatro vientos’ GA field (LEVS) is fine too. Quite lively.
For those of you who wish to come to the Balearics:
My home base, Son Bonet, Mallorca (LESB) is not all bad, except that they rip-off in July and August with crazy daily parking fees of 30-50 euros, and it closes at 18:45 local time in summer (winter 16:45). Kind of interesting to see that the local government tries to do its best to promote ‘quality tourism’ by attracting people with some money, like us. And then AENA in Madrid just has their own agenda to make money and rip people off. Or at least tries to, because many will no longer go to Mallorca if they have to pay 500 euros to just park your plane for 10 days. But we are fighting hard and we may have some success..
Menorca, San Luis (LESL). You land on a perfect 2 km runway, taxi to the grill. Relax there or call a cab who brings you into Mahon in 5 mins. No airfield fees, not even voluntary.. It does not get nicer than that. No fuel though..
Ibiza (LEIB). As you may imagine, quite busy in summer. Other than that, not a bad field at all. Fees are reasonable, no obligatory handling.
So, lets not write off Spain altogether please.
Yes, but when half of the airports become prohitive in fees, it becomes difficult. At that point, it’s the availability of acceptable airports that dictate your choice of destination, not where you really want to go. And then utility of GA diminishes.
Spain does not have very many civil airports (compared to other countries), so when 20 of them are >100 Euros or so for a single landing, then almost half of them become quite obsolete for the private GA flyer.
Spain has around 65 airports, of which about 15 have high or crazily high fees, notably Palma, Girona, Malaga. The most popular place to visit in Spain is the med coast where there are multiple places for GA at a reasonable/low price, as I listed. And I forgot to mention Mutxamiel (LEMU) for those of you who want to go to the Alicante area.
Yes, compared to other other countries, GA in Spain is underdeveloped, but let’s not get too negative.
At that point, it’s the availability of acceptable airports that dictate your choice of destination
Exactly this is the main reason for me to avoid spain. I simply do not like to be ripped off. There are many other amazing destinations here in Europe as France, Croatia, Denmark, the Channel Islands and others.
And I am quite sure that I will never visit all their airports.
France, Croatia, Denmark, the Channel Islands and others. And I am quite sure that I will never visit all their airports.
For Croatia it’s very easy – you only have to visit 7 (Pula, Mali Losinj, Rijeka, Zadar, Split, Brac, and Dubrovnik) because that’s all we have on the seaside 
Quote@Aart, we plan to fly to Morocco later this month.
Which airfield do you suggest to use (in the South of Spain) to clear customs?
Malaga LEMG would be convenient, but the handling/landing fees seems to be a rip-off…
I don’t know what your (first) stop would be in Morocco, but assuming you have sufficient range here are the best options. Because you depart to a non-Schengen country you need obligatory handling. Check for prices by calling them, but my estimate is 120 euros for handling/landing. South of Spain is quite near Morocco, so you may even want to negotiate a bit 
Granada (LEGR).
Seville (LEZL).
Jerez (LEJR).
Although it has been a while ago (pre-handling days), I have only been to Granada and Jerez, and they were both hassle-free. Granada has a lot more to offer in terms of scenery (Sierra Nevada nearby) than the flatlands of Sevilla and Jerez. Jerez is closest to Morocco though. You may want to have in the back of your mind that there is a UK-run school in Jerez that operates a large fleet of Diamonds, and they have trained mechanics. Just in case..
Granada is really nice and was very cheap. It was so cheap that people just left a load of rotting planes parked on the apron.
The price there has I believe gone up several times but is still going to be quite cheap. There is a doc in the Spanish AIP somewhere which lists the prices.
Great scenery nearby.
Malaga (LEMG) bans VFR during some days, but if you are going VFR you may as well go to La Axaquia LEAX report report which has avgas but I don’t think you can fly there direct from the UK (at the limit of sensible TB20 range anyway, though I did Granada direct from Shoreham – the zero-fuel range is roughly Tangier).
LEAX does not have customs, so no departures to Morocco..
