Flying in Italy

Yes, a nice field but out in the boondocks. Only good for fuel and for lunch (good restaurant on site).

It’s not terribly far away from Bologna, but transport connections are poor. Also, lots and lots of fog between end of October and mid March.

Chflyer, dutyfree avgas is only for outbound flights to outside Europe, afaik.

I am not sure you will get tax free fuel when leaving to Switzerland. Switzerland stopped the policy of selling tax free fuel on crossboarder flight a few years ago and as a consequence Italy did the same. Albenga stopped selling tax free fuel for flights to Switzerland many years ago for exactly the reason mentioned. For other non EU destinations you can still refuel tax free.

I went to Caglieri LIEE in Sardinia here

The airport went very smoothly and on the ground in a friendly way and it wasn’t especially expensive; well below €100 I think. There were some dodgy ATC practices to do with separation against an Easyjet, possibly not helped by Level 1 ELP

However, upon my return to the UK, their admin office hassled me for months about the purpose of the flight and VAT. Fortunately I had the paperwork, which I keep for at least a year because many airports (especially some French ones e.g. Dinard, La Rochelle, Pontoise) don’t send out bills for anything up to a year, or send duplicate ones, and then you don’t have a leg to stand on… I wasn’t sure what they were going on about and I just answered their questions several times over, and eventually they gave up. VAT was paid on the costs and the avgas and I had proof of it. Maybe there was some internal fraud going on where somebody put the transaction down as non-VAT (AOC etc) and pocketed the VAT which I paid

In that trip writeup is a curious note that Oristano had gone bust. I had that info from several people in Italy but later found that it was still running. I am not sure of the current status and if someone can confirm it I will update that writeup. Oristano was another place with an avgas pump (I stood right on front of it) but no enquiries I made would unabiguously illuminate its availability…

In any case, Oristano/LIER is still listed in Jepp Bottling with VAC, airport diagram dated Jun 05, 2015, as well as text with tel#, fax#, email@, etc. The web site (Oristano (Fenosu) LIET) is active, with some info in Italian and an English section that says “work in progress”…. It sure would be nice to have some recent confirmation of its availability for use/fuel.

Re VAT, my a/c has VAT paid in Switzerland and I keep a copy of the receipt in the a/c with reg, CofA, insurance cert., etc just as an attempt to pre-empt such issues. I can’t be sure it will always work, but if was accepted in La Rochelle when customers queried me once about VAT.

I fly to France quite a lot and can’t say that I’ve ever had a personal back experience. I’ve been visited by customs on about 3 times over the past 20 years, a couple times in La Rochelle where they visited me when I arrived and then again when I left (right hand not talking to the left hand?), and in Blois where the mobile customs unit from Bretigny was down in their twin for lunch. We had lunch in the restaurant and they sort of just followed us out when we went back to the plane. Very polite and one chatted while the other stuck his head in our baggage area. But that was a few years back and things do change.

France is France. There is a certain casualness that makes flying there enjoyable, until some official gets a bee in his bonnet and picks on someone to make an example. There was a case some years back of a Swiss getting nailed by French customs in Geneva because he had picked up a French citizen somewhere in Alsace and brought them to Geneva. According to EU law, for any non-commercial flight between two locations within the EU and carrying EU citizen(s) the aircraft needs to have VAT paid in an EU country. French customs in Geneva gave him the options to pay the VAT, have the aircraft seized, or pay a fine. In this case, after taking up the issue with his lawyers and the Swiss civil aviation department, he was advised by French authorities that the decision was “revised” on the basis that French customs is a “guest” in Geneva and the flight could be considered an international flight terminating outside the EU (Switzerland) and the fine would be refunded. However, the basis for the ruling has not changed so this could happen again anytime, for example, to me when I pick up friends in Amboise and we go to La Baule for a couple days which I have done. Here is a document in German/French (sorry) by the Swiss AOPA legal advisor. This is probably a specific issue in Switzerland, since any aircraft with EU VAT paid wouldn’t have the issue.

If you fly an N-reg, don’t stop in Cagliari. A judge based there, a few years ago, grounded for few months most N-regs in all of Italy, starting from all based in Cagliari, assuming all came in Europe via the old zero-vat Denmark route, and assuming that route was illegal (which was not).
Regarding duty-free avgas for flights to Switzerland, it was confirmed to me in writing by the “finance police” (yes, we have that too in Italy) of Milan Linate. I show their email to smaller airports avgas admin if they don’t know Switzerland is not Europe (!)

If you fly an N-reg, don’t stop in Cagliari. A judge based there, a few years ago, grounded for few months most N-regs in all of Italy, starting from all based in Cagliari, assuming all came in Europe via the old zero-vat Denmark route, and assuming that route was illegal (which was not).

That’s dynamite… how come this news never made the GA scene outside Italy? How far did it get? For the planes to have been grounded, there would have to have been a court order, and uncontested, and I am sure at least some Italian pilots do have plenty of money to fight with

I know about the Italian “luxury tax” – I have some mentions of it here – but I don’t think that’s the same thing. I wonder where that stands currently. Last I heard you had to be there for a whole year. Various workarounds included putting the plane into a club, which is exempt as a “sporting organisation”.

Valerio

could you please share the email from the guardia di finanza? I have never been successful in the last years.

thanks, placido

Every time I land in Italy customs is there asking if I carry more than €10k. Croatia-Italy is EU flight so no customs should be involved. I tried to explain them but then I gave up. Two years ago I landed at Bari arriving from Palermo and they were there asking the same question – I thought that Sicily was part of Italy but customs didn’t share my opinion.