From a fellow pilot who wouldnt like to disclose his presence right now,I received a pvt letter asking to be published:
1. Fraport is a private company, with recently imposed high fees this company is not providing a fair access to the public infrastructure of the airports in Greece. This is diminishing country potential for economic recovery, as airport access, speed of private travelling is important for business users. With Fraport preference towards CAT traffic – this area lags. Private flying is important for businesses development, with that new jobs creation, Greek people with it’s country on many islands can’t afford such waste of potential opportunities. Now, when airports are in private operations, maybe it is time for Greek anti monopoly body to examine if Fraport is doing it’s best (in line with it’s practices in other countries) to manage this state money built infrastructure properly?
2. Fraport is a public company traded on German stock exchange. In Germany public status means that you “need to behave…” Fraport has it’s supervisory board (with noble persons from German industries, Hessia land etc., they have their clearly stated conduct of “responsibilities” on their homepage.
How is that they can excel in airports like Hannover, which still despite large CAT traffic is GA friendly, and simultaneously impose high fees, blocking the access to the infrastructure, in much poorer countries like Greece? Does the supervisory board of Fraport knows about such practices? Maybe they should be informed and state their position regarding compliance with the values of the company?
@petakas
Do you know if AOPA Greece has tried to get a system in place similar to that used in other countries like Switzerland or even France?
While not perfect, this might allow the proposal to work even for the customs requirement.
The principle is that of a form that is completed and submitted to customs in advance (lead time depends on the case … in France it’s 24hr, in Switzerland 2hr for inbound, 1hr for outbound), and specifically applies only when there is nothing to declare. In this case, if customs decides that the flight warrants a check, they would come across the field to meet the flight and ask their questions. Otherwise, it is handled like any other airport where one walks through the “nothing to declare” exit. That is, if customs don’t show up to control the aircraft & crew/pax, then they are clear to continue their flight onwards. If the flight is staying in Corfu (i.e. crew exiting the airport there), then they would need to go across and use the normal customs exit. Whoever meets the flight and handles the paperwork on the GA side could provide this transport too.
chflyer wrote:
countries like Switzerland or even France
Lets not get this forum thread off topic. Don’t compare these two countries with Greece’s authorities. The 14 airports (+1 in Athens) may be privatized but authorities like the customs, police etc. are still deep state stuff. They do not have a “open mind” to support GA development especially in the times we live now when they have to handle the “southeastern border of Europe to Asia”. The fuel issue is another front and it has to do with how and if the fuel company is able to invest in new refueling hubs. Here’s their latest endeavor and we all hope it goes well. They do read this forum as seen here.
Hello,
Looks like we have number of interesting comments regarding the current situation on Corfu. In general rather pessimistic in nature, so although my optimism is bit undercut after this exchange – “the hope dies the last”…
Let’s give these people couple of months to find their way in new realities. I could bet things will change for good. I’ve been through that in Poland, where “former system” companies were being transitioned into new, private ones. It takes a while, but after couple of months the same people which didn’t care much before – start doing good job. In majority the failure wasn’t due to the people – but due to wrong fundamentals of the system. With some we had to depart, but these were single examples.
In general I like the way aviation is organized in Germany, both in larger and smaller airfields (maybe except the Flugleiter presence requirement 
…). And now majority of Greek airports are managed by FRAPORT. I can’t imagine the parent company not imposing it’s standards onto new acquisitions/ subsidiaries. I also do not believe people at airport management can’t do better job once this is expected, enabled and properly motivated. So it will be really interesting to see which way it goes…
I’ll just briefly post my experience with Fraport and Swissport Greece – I wrote about it in details in other treads.
1. April 2017, Corfu LGKR – Arriving from Croatia, PPR on short notice, more-less everything was ok, except I was badly surprised with 200€ bill for landing and one night parking – I expected something more close to 100€.
2. April 2017, Kefalonia LGKF – Arriving from Megara LGMG, I needed refueling and customs before departing to Croatia. I obtained PPR directly from Fraport (for free) but I was charged for it by handler (Swissport) like they did it for me. I got e-mail that this 50€ will be returned but I still haven’t got it back. On top of it I spent 2 hours at at the airport instead of 30 min and total bill was 150€.
3. July 2017, Corfu LGKR – Arriving from Megara LGMG, I needed refueling and customs before departing to Bosnia. Obtaining PPR from Fraport wasn’t possible – everything had to be done via handler. I obtained PPR 3 days before flight and agreed on quick refueling due to time constraints on my final destination. However, when I arrived handler was clueless about who I was, where I came from and where I was heading to. I waited one hour at apron for fuel and one hour more for clearing the customs – again 2 hours instead of 30 min. The bill was again 200€ (obviously they want 200€ and it doesn’t make difference if you have passengers or not, whether you park for day or spend 2 hours). On top of this they swiped my card twice charging me 400€ and I’m still fighting to recover my money back.
An Italian friend had trouble getting out of Corfu (LGKR) earlier this year. He had a prop strike during slow taxi. I don’t know how this happened, but the authorities were kind enough to inform the Italian CAA who canceled his C of A. He was also breathalyzed. He had to get a trailer from Italy and tow it back to Milan.
Greece has plenty of tourists, paying or otherwise, and the loss of a few GA pilots would not be noticed.
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/tourism-most-destructive-enterprise
Simon
Bloody unbelievable 3rd World behaviour – in both cases.
The right thing would have been to offer the pilot the use of a hangar for the few months it will take for the engine and prop to be sorted.
That looked like a genuine prop strike – shouldn’t the aircraft be inspected and the engine shock load inspected?
Or are we advocating the aircraft could be flown, possibly with passengers, over water, uninsured at the risk of a real emergency?
Ideally the emergency services might be mobilised for emergencies which are not self inflicted.
Post prop strike, a certified aircraft is not airworthy, but there is no grounds for its CofA to be cancelled. The process of getting a new CofA is a lot more onerous than reinstalling the engine and prop. You have to get a CAA inspector to travel to the plane.
A homebuilt would be a different matter… but who is to judge and who needs to be convinced and who (on the ground) would even understand the difference?
Obviously the cost to dismantle and carry with a trailer to Brindisi and then whatever was less fuss than bring on mechanics,dismantle engine+prop,transport,repair,transport,install,test fly in a such friendly environment and finaly bring Italian inspectors for the final seals.
