My experience is also less onerous than that of various posters. I fly regularly to Reus, Sabadell and other airfields in Catalonia, both IFR and VFR, and have never had the problem of not being able to raise a Barcelona controller. I found them to be reasonably efficient and cooperative. As an example: they are quite reasonable in allowing me to pop into class A when on a VFR plan and weather requires me to do that for a little while to remain VMC (all within safe limits of course, based on the runways in use at the main airport). BUT.. I have never landed at the main airport.
May be that you are a regular, and fortunate Stephen…..
Hmmm… I talk to them all the time when I fly out of and into Sabadell LELL.
I remember well when I was passed to Barcelona from Girona. They refused to respond to me. I called eight times, no recognition of me. I went back to Girona stating I could not raise them. Try again came the reply. I tried three times, eventually gave up, went under their TMA, clipped their CTZ, nothing….I knew they were there, because they were talking to others…avoid like the plague..
Quite interesting all that …
I agree with Josh. I fly small planes to a lot of big airports and most are fine. Barcelona are unpleasant and rude. Vectoring then sending you to a non-fpl waypoint in the terminal area and not spelling it out and getting annoyed as you can’t find it (waypoint on an approach I wasn’t using) Just terrible. Girona for me as an IFR option. Much cheaper friendly handling from Execujet there.
Reus is a reasonable option. Landing fees around 25 euros, parking 20 euros a day I think. Not busy. But you need to call in advance for a parking spot. Then either hire a car or take a cab to Tarragona and get on a train to Barcelona. Time spent on cab/train not more than 2 hrs, by car 1.5 hrs.
Avoid Barcelona like the plague. It is the only place where controllers have genuinely tried to kill me. It is a nightmare in any form of aircraft. You would find yourself with no wake spacing, vectored into another aircraft, or a go-around call away from an A340 taxiing into you on landing (all 3 have happened to me at BCN in the last 12 months) – save your money and go elsewhere!
This ATIS isn’t entirely false…
Stephan I would treat Girona as my IFR destination and transit VFR to LELL, it used to be very friendly and reasonable for a large airport. This was when Ryanair had already established a base.
A few years back was filed for Torrejon but got diverted to Barajas. Charges were quite reasonable, but I think I negotiated in Spanish. As you make contacts at LELL you might get an introduction and negotiate a better deal, and it may be worth going over to see a handling agent in person. Alternatively get a window seat on one of the evening EasyJets.
Together with the 220KT restriction and all that “we are sooo busy” wording in the AIP the message is clear. No little flies. Only buses full with tourists. Later other people in Barcelona complain about the amount (way too much) and the type of tourists (too cheap).
But then we all know that for the airport an Airbus with 200 PAX is better overall. They can charge the airline and they make money through the shopping mall. The one at LEBL is quite large. Guess why… But now it’s getting off-topic.
