Commuting to Brussels

[proudprivate]

A&C, I guess it all boils down to two things :

1. Where exactly do you need to be ?
2. What do you mean by "Commute" ?

I'm assuming you need a customs' clearance, which would exclude Grimbergen as final destination, unless you make a stop in one of the airports below (which would incur landing fees)

EBBR - prohibitively expensive. Count on 500 EUR for landing, handling and overnight parking.

EBCI - about 14 EUR landing fee; There is also the option of an "abonnement", i.e. paying a yearly fee of about 500 EUR which would cover landing fees for a year.

EBLG - similar story to EBCI.

EBAW - about 36 EUR landing fee;

EBOS - about 24 EUR landing fee;

Now, if you are truely commuting, i.e. you are flying in on Sunday Evening and return on Friday Evening, it makes sense to talk to the Administrators in both Antwerp, Charleroi etc... and ask them what they could do for you as a "regular", as both are angling to increase GA that is non-training.

If you're final destination is the Centre of Brussels, then I think the Eurostar is hard to beat. However, prices for convenient commuting times are the most expensive ones. Alternatively, Cityjet flies from London City into EBBR. Remember that if you don't fly to EBBR by yourself, you're looking at another hour of travel time (even if you keep a car at the airport you fly to).

Good luck !


EDIT : Bookworm, as you know all the rules (present and future) so well, could you enlighten us about the following possibilities

1. Weekly commuting operation by 4-6 colleagues and friends between in a Cessna 206 or similar airplane on a cost sharing basis between EGMC and EBAW, in an N-registered aircraft operated under Part 91 ? Assume the operator is a Jersey Company that rents out N-reg planes. The owner is a Delaware (US) company and the Jersey Company is the trust beneficiary.

2. Same thing as (1), but in a G-registered Cessna 206. The operator is an LLC based in Lewisham, which also owns the aircraft.

By cost sharing I mean :
- divide the wet or dry rental equally among the occupants
- landing fees, handling fees, parking fees and passenger fees divided among the occupants.

If this is possible, then the commute obviously makes sense, even in competition with the Eurostar. It would suffice to have ONE flexible ticket for each occupant in order to proctect the pilot from passenger pressure and gettheritis, but apart from that, it seems to make economical sense.

Any comments welcomed...