I needed a lot of vaseline at Samos (Fraport sell it in large jars at the airport), having been charged the €50 twice for the slot (due to changing the arrival date). Total €330. I had some “discussion” with them about VFR versus IFR but they were not interested. All the previous comments here about VFR arrivals not needing the slot, also discussed with Goldair by email previously, are meaningless.
They also do not allow payment (except for fuel, which is done separately to the fuel man) until the time of departure, which prevents much discussion anyway 
So I can understand Emir’s decision, and he’s not the only one to have dropped out. Athens LGAV is probably half the price.
Gone are the days when one could stop at Samos for fuel and depart an hour later, for €30 or so.
Anyway, here’s a little video of the landing at Samos. Right base for 09
The departure the following morning was quite turbulent – typically for Samos due to the mountain north of the runway.
JnsV wrote:
Like Emir, I would also like to know about what the charges are there currently. I’m planning a trip there for next year and it would be good to get an actual data point from an accurate source.
I landed there in August to refuel and believe I paid in the vicinity of 50 € in airport charges for 1,6 T. The invoice is at home…
According to another forum 100LL was ca. 1,70 €/l incl taxes one month ago which beats 3,60 $/l at LATI. According to RR Jet-A1 is 0,60 $/l including taxes.
I paid €53 at Dubrovnik 2 days ago, 1400kg. That appears to be the price up to 2000kg.
I don’t have the invoice to hand unfortunately. Avgas is the same price everywhere in Croatia – it is set by INA; their national fuel company.
Peter wrote:
I had some “discussion” with them about VFR versus IFR but they were not interested. All the previous comments here about VFR arrivals not needing the slot, also discussed with Goldair by email previously, are meaningless.
The slots are definitely not required for VFR, that is clearly stated in official documents by the Greek CAA. However, you have asked Goldair to procure slots and only later changed your opinion so they have reason to charge you. Also you performed an IFR arrival, didn’t you?
I had emails with them, telling them I need only PPR and no slot because I was arriving VFR. This doesn’t wash with them, apparently. Completely uninterested.
It’s true that I flew the IAP to LGSM at the end but Goldair had already procured the slot before that, having ignored the emails.
Basically they will always do the PPR and slot regardless of how you arrive. There was another GA crew next to me, VFR, and they paid the same i.e. PPR + slot.
The bit which leaves a really foul taste in the mouth is that each time they request a slot from Fraport you get billed €50, so any change of timing is €50.
Anyway we will not do another fly-in to Greece in the foreseeable future. When I initially looked into this one, about 20 aircraft were interested, which is a very good turnout. As usual that gradually came down to about 10 aircraft. Then as people started actually looking at the planning, most of those dropped out – despite the issues being a fraction of those at say Carcassonne (but someone else had pre-organised that one, sorting it all out). Some dropped out due to mechanical / maintenance issues; one dropping out because his chute has expired and the Cirrus lead time is very long because they are waiting for some others to come back from the field to be overhauled (separate lifetimes for the chute and for the rocket). However we have some Greek pilots which is great
One great thing is that I have 75 USG in the tanks
When the cost of landing exceeds the cost of fuel for reaching destination then this is the destination to be avoided.
Aviathor, Peter:
Thanks for the info. I calculated about half of that cost based on their tariff manual, but I may have missed something. I’d appreciate if you had the time to post the details on your invoice.
EDIT: I checked my calculations again and got into the’re now in the same ballpark that you posted. Thanks for the info.
Peter wrote:
Basically they will always do the PPR and slot regardless of how you arrive. There was another GA crew next to me, VFR, and they paid the same i.e. PPR + slot.
Peter in the end of August email exchanges you forwarded me where you converse with GOLDAIR back and forth about handling charge quotations, each time you and them mention PPR and SLOT (at 45+VAT charge for the slot). Obviously the SLOT is only if the flight is IFR. Why did you not mention in the emails to them that the flight was VFR (if it was so) and hence no need for a SLOT ?
Was it an I flight plan (canceled later to V), a Y flight plan or a V flight plan ?
Regarding the comment about the other GA aircraft, I’ve learned not to believe apron stories until I see something with my own eyes.
Samos is a Eurocontrol flow coordinated airport.
Not sure if the above helps.
I had various emails with them. The last ones I said no slot is needed (only PPR) because I will be coming VFR. However I don’t think it makes any difference – at least to the guy involved when I was there settling the bill.
