Hi Peter, I’m flying to Weston this month, would you publish the unpublished departure?
One thing I know about Weston is it’s easier to nod your head, and put in your debit card pin number, than voice any grumbles. I keep my trap shut up there.
I’m not trying to justify their fees, but Weston do communicate flight details to the Garda. They’ve had one or two episodes over the years which may be behind their policy.
Anyway, if you’re going to Dublin, where else are you going to go?
PS. Weston always was the ‘Wild West(on)’. It’s much more organised now. In the days of Capt. Kennedy (former owner, before Jim Mansfield), traffic came from all directions and anything went. However, the Good Captain was the only person I ever met who knew Saint-Exupery personally. He even had a trophy given to him by the great man to prove it.
dublinpilot wrote:
Why they charge more for international traffic, I don’t know.
because they know international visitors are likely to have more money?
because locals finance the airport through taxes?
I don’t find that shocking
Weston landing fees are discriminatory!
It’s €10 for based aircraft.
€20 for domestic visitors
€40 for international visitors.
Why they charge more for international traffic, I don’t know.
Parking is also available on the grass. I don’t know if that would have been cheaper. It’s certainly cheaper for based aircraft.
I have never been to Dublin, this city is still on my wish to do list. The landing fee, ok, I could live with it for one visit.
But parking fee is more expensive than Munich EDDM (8 Euro), I guess this is the reason for the empty apron.
According to reports, Dublin was extremely cheap for GA (several € only) for years, until they suddenly decided to evict it.
Weston’s main traffic limiting thing, well apart from the cost which is OK only for occassional trips, is the near-useless IAP. It means that – given the prevailing wx – a lot of the time nobody can land there. But I would expect bizjets being happy to land at Dublin; cost is almost irrelevant.
Weston has certainly taken all the traffic which used to go to Dublin. I remember going there when the runway was the strip nearer the current terminal building. We were quite concerned about the runway length until we saw it in real life
Based traffic get better deals (€10 landings) 
There was a big drive to become a GA hub about a year ago, then they rowed back on it within months….no idea why.
Sadly, one of the clubs had their a/c written-off in August, just after a complete re-spray and a huge repair job which involved land transport back from Wales.
Those fees would kill most GA activity, particularly aeroclub type activity, and sure enough there doesn’t seem to be much of the former. One will just get occassional visits like mine.
There is a flying school there and they probably have a block deal.
Ireland is very scenic – in the right wx
