I might be going to Eindhoven in April and am looking at the options. What is a suitable airport for travelling to Eindhoven with light GA?
Obviously there is Eindhoven (EHEH) airport, but it has compulsory slots and handling and is rumoured to be expensive. (I can’t find the handler on the web.)
Are there any nearby airports with good ground transportation to Eindhoven? What if you need IFR?
Why don’t you e-mail the flyingclub over there? EAC-m Maybe they can help you out when landing at EHEH. I guess EHBD is closest by as an alternative, check out Kempen Airport/Budel, they are IFR only outside daylight hours.
I had previously planned for a trip to Eindhoven EHEH.
GA Handling :-
Landing can be expensive I ‘ve heard (EUR 180 for SEP). Unfortunately the flying club can’t act as handling agent.
EHBD is a alternative, but not easy regarding public transport.
EBAW is a full IFR field. It’s a one hour drive to Eindhoven. Busses are running between Antwerp and Eindhoven.
Another Alternative is EDLV (Weeze airport). This is a full service airport. Last time I went there it was 20 euro for a landing (incl. handling). It’s a 45 minute drive to Eindhoven.
jkv wrote:
Last time I went there it was 20 euro for a landing (incl. handling). It’s a 45 minute drive to Eindhoven.
It’s more like 45 EUR now, but still fair for an airport like this and the guy who does the handling is a nice Dutch fellow – so you’ll feel like you’re almost in Eindhoven.
Just do not, under any circumstances, get fuel there! It’s outrageously expensive. I think last time it was around 3 EUR excl. VAT.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll have to give this some thought.
Btw: What’s the rationale for only allowing IFR approaches into EHBD during darkness? Is night VFR prohibited in the Netherlands?
No night VFR in The Netherlands except for helicopters and training flights for CPL
I had to cancel the flight because of crappy weather, but before that I had confirmed handling in Eindhoven with Viggo General Aviation and they quoted a handling fee of €42 (incl. of VAT). According to the airport tariff, the landing (or rather departure) fee would be €39 (incl. of VAT) for a total of €81. That’s for sub 2t-aircraft and no pax. €81 is certainly on the high side, but not outrageously so. (You would get the use of Viggo’s VIP lounge “including drinks” 
)
With pax, the handling cost goes up rapidly. According to Viggo’s tariff, there is an additional handling cost of €42 for “passenger arrivals” and “passenger departures”. It was clear from my e-mail conversation that passenger handling applies to private flights as well.
(Note: The €39 is a “basic” landing fee assuming no noise adjustments. The airport tariff seems to indicate that there are no such adjustments for light prop aircraft.)
Just a little further away is Rotterdam. Landing will set you back about 25 euros, followed by a flat handling fee of 25 euros via the Vliegclub Rotterdam. (The commercial handlers will charge about 100 euros for a SEP.)
Bus to Rotterdam CS takes about 30 minutes, from there it’s a little over an hour train ride (direct, every 30 minutes) to Eindhoven CS.
BackPacker wrote:
Just a little further away is Rotterdam. Landing will set you back about 25 euros, followed by a flat handling fee of 25 euros via the Vliegclub Rotterdam. (The commercial handlers will charge about 100 euros for a SEP.)Bus to Rotterdam CS takes about 30 minutes, from there it’s a little over an hour train ride (direct, every 30 minutes) to Eindhoven CS.
The train trip (with return) will be about €36. So we are already at almost the same cost but with 2-3 hours lost in train rides.
