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Any up to date actual experience of Carcassonne LFMK?

chflyer wrote:

I’m planning a trip there with a group of about 14 aircraft next weekend,

How did it turnout ?
I might be go there next week for a few days…. Thanks in advance for your feedback

jfw
Belgium: EBGB (Grimbergen, Brussels) - EBNM (Namur), Belgium

I recommend initially reading the link posted above from the 2016 fly-in.

There was some “funny stuff” going on there, with the FTO having a monopoly (quite aggressively stated) on the avgas pump. Like on the ski slopes, where there is a dedicated passage straight to the chair lift, the “national school” gets a priority over the outsiders When we arrived the FTO was shut but we still could not get the pump to work. ATC absolutely refused to help, also refused to get anyone from the fire crew to help. One of us could speak French but we could not turn the pump on. Luckily we had a guy who helped a lot to organise things, @Nestor, and he made the right calls to the right people and magically minutes later a guy walked up and flicked a hidden switch inside the pump

The location is superb but the airport organisation was problematic, as previously reported.

It may have changed, of course… these things do change. But if it was me I would do due diligence before going there.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

Here is the current fees document:
TARIFS_HANDLING_TAXES_CCF_AEROPORT_2019_pdf

I’m planning a trip there with a group of about 14 aircraft next weekend, and dropped operations a note as a heads-up to say we were coming. They replied with the above document and requested, “in order to manage assistance requests”, each aircraft fill out and send the form as soon as possible. The form is on the last page. My guess is that one only really needs to do so if customs and/or fuel are needed…. but that certainly isn’t clear from the above request.

Aviathor wrote:

The document explicitly says that handling is not required for private flights that do not use the commercial apron.

I can’t find that anywhere in the above document. There is this in the parking fee section though:

For private flights that require no assistance an additional 25 € will be charged for parking in commercial parking stands. This parking will not exceed 2h00, beyond the ground handling fees applies. Every hour started is due.

The most unsettling is the €50 basic fee for

A/C Marshalling, chocking, apron area watch, light cabin cleaning

Nothing that says this is limited to the commercial apron. So they could rush out with a follow-me to guide one to the GA parking and then try to charge the €50 fee. Or perhaps submitting the form, even just for customs or fuel, implies a request for handling incurring the €50 fee?

Do I understand the thread above that there is a self-serve AirBP fuel station at the east end whereas the GA parking is at the west end (i.e. one needs to taxi back and forth, or be sure to taxi directly to the fuel station on landing if fuel is needed)?

We are quite a large group and the GA parking looks like the markings are perhaps for less than that. The aircraft are all C172s, PA28, PA18, Bucker, Jodel, Glasair, Maule, Aeronca, BE35. So I’m sure they could be squeezed together if the airport allows us to ignore the lines defining the parking spots.

All the info in the thread is very good, so perhaps I’m worrying too much ;-(

Any visits this year or comments on the above?

Last Edited by chflyer at 25 May 12:38
LSZK, Switzerland

I was there a year ago in August. Here’s what I remember:
- we had to hold for quite a few minutes as other aircraft were approaching. I understand there’s no radar.
- once we landed, it must have been midi, because we waited for the fuel truck (JET) for an hour or more and I’m guessing the apron was 40+ degrees
- very reasonable pricing
- no handling
- pay fees at info desk in terminal
- apron access with a code

Last Edited by loco at 27 Jul 20:02
LPFR, Poland

Went at the beginning of the month during the week. All very straightforward and as described above. We did enquire about and upload fuel on arrival. All straightforward, and automated, with a BP card (€2.17 /ltr for 100LL). The flying school was active and this was not an issue. I was given the distinct impression that fuelling would not be possible at that time without a BP card. I don’t know about weekends.

No handling etc required. Be careful with the gates for exit. There is one on its own ( to the west) and two close together to the East of the GA hanger one of which will let you back in – with the number. It’s a reasonable walk through the car park (5-10minutes) to the terminal information desk who are extremely helpful and told us that Les Douanniers didn’t want to see us. (I’m still a little uncomfortable about this. But they were right there.) On departure, it might make sense to get your taxi to drop you by the GA gate to leave bags by the aircraft and then walk back to the terminal if you need to rather than lug your bags around in the heat.

We wanted to leave early in the day to avoid thunderstorms, and wanted to clear customs/immigration. On arrival there was a RyanAir branded note on the terminal saying that the terminal didn’t open until 0915lcl – not as per AIP etc, so we are still waiting for an invoice for costs etc, and we re-routed to clear immigration elsewhere. ATC were very relaxed about us departing without having settled up with the terminal. I know I will get to regret this at leisure.

Oh, and if you’re heading into town, a bus comes to meet the RyanAir flight and costs c.€6 in to the new town. I don’t think it goes up to the medieval town. I think our taxi back in the morning was c.€10-€15.

Hope you have a good trip.

Ed
EGBW

Sounds good to me.
Thanks for all the input guys.

United Kingdom

Flew in from Montpellier to Carcassone on 25 April this year and cost was Euro 19.84 for landing and one night parking for a PA23-250 MTOW 2359kgs. No handling required. Parking is about a five minute walk from the terminal through a coded access gate with no one around to ask if you forget the code to get back in, so take a photo. Pay fees in the main terminal which we did on arrival since we were leaving early the next day. Very easy airport to fly into with LPV approach to one runway and very helpful ATC. Didn’t need fuel so cannot comment on that. A short taxi ride into Carcassone itself.

EGBW, United Kingdom

Thanks for that Aviathor.
I’ve read the document several times and have missed it.
I’ll go look again.
Kind regards Pete

United Kingdom

The document explicitly says that handling is not required for private flights that do not use the commercial apron.

LFPT, LFPN

LFMK is not expensive; the issue when we did the 2016 fly-in was the avgas arrangement. The based FTO had exclusive rights to the pump on weekdays and these were expressed rather forcefully. It all seemed quite over-done and there was no actual issue when we arrived… well except we could not get the pump to work, ATC flatly refused to help, until a well connected person made a phone call to the airport manager

So if I was going there now I would check the pump access.

The city is really nice. We had a big turnout.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom
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