here's another small one in Istria - Vrsar LDPV (day VFR) but I don't know its current status for international flights
We visited Vrsar last summer with 3 aircraft from Sweden and got great service. They even had a pretty large skydivers bar at the airport serving cheap bear next to old aircraft :)
No fuel but customs available from early morning to late evening (incredible since we were the only visitors). I also remember an older gentleman who was handling their office (payment etc), but I think he should stop using the radio as the only phrase he seemed to know was "cleared to land" :)
The closure is far from certain, apparently. It does sound like a regular rumour.
I can't see it would make sense to close it, given the huge investment, the high net worth and high spending individuals who use it (even if only in the summer) and the very small number of people who work there. If it was a UK airport there would be 5x the staff.
That is very good news. I agree that it's a fabulous facility for GA and the staff there were exemplary in their customer service. 3 men on the apron to coordinate refuelling, marshalling and tie-downs, plus the lovely ladies in the office who organised the fees and transportation.
I wish they could have been more flexible with their opening hours. We were happy to pay a surcharge to keep the airport open (€50 per hour + VAT) but they wanted this per aircraft which seemed over the top given the fixed costs of extending the operation.
I thought there was a daily twin turboprop service to Zagreb
Good joke. It think it's once a week starting mid-June, maybe more frequent (max 3 times a week) during July-August, fading-out in September and that's it.
I can't believe the Croatian ferry boats make money, at the very low ticket prices.
No, they are highly subsidized but joining EU will challenge that in the same way as it did for air tickets.
Just got a reply from LDSB.
The closure is far from certain, apparently. It does sound like a regular rumour.
I can't see it would make sense to close it, given the huge investment, the high net worth and high spending individuals who use it (even if only in the summer) and the very small number of people who work there. If it was a UK airport there would be 5x the staff.
On a side note, our group had big problems using combinations of RocketRoute and SkyDemon for VFR filing to France & Montenegro. All FPLs were rejected and we had to phone them in manually. I know RR are looking at this.
I thought SD's built-in flight plan filing function used EuroFPL for flight plan filing. I know this because, way back, I introduced the two companies together
One always needs two ways of doing anything. Normally I use EuroFPL for flight plan filing but it does sometimes fall over and when it does it will obviously happen at the least handy moment, so I keep Afpex as the backup (needs a windoze laptop though, although there is a painful way of running it over a remote desktop connection from an Ipad).
Where is this information from?
The handling office at Brac informed us whilst we were there.
I thought there was a daily twin turboprop service to Zagreb - as there is on the Greek islands (to Athens)
There was no evidence of such a service whilst we were there. Perhaps a seasonal service?
On a side note, our group had big problems using combinations of RocketRoute and SkyDemon for VFR filing to France & Montenegro. All FPLs were rejected and we had to phone them in manually. I know RR are looking at this.
I emailed them anyway...
sometimes nobody lands there for a weeks
I thought there was a daily twin turboprop service to Zagreb - as there is on the Greek islands (to Athens).
now everything must be profitable
Yeah, but I would hope that Croatians are clever enough (I am sure they are) to just look around at the rest of Europe (and especially the UK) screwing its quality of life, not to mention almost everybody's job satisfaction, into the ground in the name of "user pays"...
Transport infrastructure can be regarded as important. I can't believe the Croatian ferry boats make money, at the very low ticket prices.
I heard a rumour last year that Losinj and Brac were both closing and as far as I could check it out it was just a rumour.
It repeats every year - it's an issue of financing and operations being non-profitable due to low number of operations during non-summer months. In order to keep ATC people current the airport must be opened year around (at least few days a week - like LDSB - during winter it works two-three days a week) although sometimes nobody lands there for a weeks. So somebody in our country must decide if there's higher interest to keep them open besided pure profit.
It's a problem with lot of things in our "ex-socialism/kapitalism wannabe" country: before everything was supposed to be free - now everything must be profitable. Nobody thinks that tax payers are entitled to get some services by the pure fact of beeing tax payers, regardless the fact that this service is not of interest for everybody. Common approach of our govermnent is that tax is intended to support their salaries while everything else you should pay directly if you're interested to get the service.
As a note, if you want to visit LDSB then do so NOW! The airport is closing next year due to lack of custom
Where is this information from?
It's very sad. A superb brand new airport.
I heard a rumour last year that Losinj and Brac were both closing and as far as I could check it out it was just a rumour.
Just got back from a trip to Croatia and Montenegro on Saturday, returning from Tivat (LYTV) on a similar(ish) routing to Peter's outbound flight. We decided to stop in Salzburg rather than fly direct in the SR22, so that we could take advantage of the outdoor BBQ restaurant at Red Bull's Hangar 7!
Have to say that Croatia and Montenegro is a marvellous part of Europe and my trip there has shattered all my misconceptions on what the Eastern Adriatic was like.
We visited Split, Brac, Dubrovnik and Tivat on the trip. If I were to order them in terms of holiday value (obviously a personal preference) then it would be:
1) -LYTV & LDDU equal top. LYTV is incredibly bureaucratic but has two major benefits - €1.5 / litre AVGAS & the most amazing scenery and beaches. 2) -LDSP - access to Trogir and Brac (by ferry) 3) -LDSB (we stayed in the closest beach resort of Bol, and didn't like it at all. Although Supetar looked smashing, but much further from airport). It was also infuriating that the airport closed at 4pm daily (7pm on Saturdays).
As a note, if you want to visit LDSB then do so NOW! The airport is closing next year due to lack of custom. Interestingly it was the most expensive airport we landed at in Croatia. Split and Dubrovnik, the latter particularly so, were considerably cheaper.
Thanks. Any other nice beach resorts near good Croatian airports?
These are Croatian coastal airports from North to South: Pula LDPL, Rijeka (island of Krk) LDRI, Lošinj LDLO, Zadar LDZD, Split LDSP, Bra? LDSB, and Dubrovnik LDDU. There's another small one in Istria - Vrsar LDPV (day VFR) but I don't know its current status for international flights. All these airports are international with customs and boarder police, IFR (ILS approach except LDLO and LDSB) some of them H24 the other with extended working hours during summer.
Regarding beach resorts, I don't thing finding nice one should be a problem, having in mind following facts:
total length of coast 1777 km
number of islands 1246 (67 inhabitated)
total length of coast on islands 4058 km
