Blackbushe Landing fees

[Bushebiggles]

Has anyone visited EGLK recently? The last time I visited about 2 years ago I thought the fees were high at £24 (although discount if 50l uplifted. That was in a PA28.
This week I needed to visit the area and I chose EGLK, and due to short notice took the ac available a C152. I was outraged to be charged £27.80 and no offer of discount for fuel uplift. Fortunately I did not need to stay overnight and incur parking charges.
It seems the management have decided they now have jets landing there and that puts them in the commercial league able to charge recreational pilots high fees and discourage their visit. It si not even as if they have any decent landing aids, relying simply on NDB+DME.
I suppose they view if you can afford to fly you can afford our fees!! Fortunately there are other nearby airfields that welcome visitors and charge reasonable landing fees and parking.
So unless you have a big wallet and cash to spare avoid EGLK
Bushebiggles

[soaringhigh650]

I was outraged to be chargedSo am I, but I thought 25 pounds was quite reasonable in the UK given you guys don't fund your airports from public money.

Shall I tell you the charges for a 152 at Shoreham and Stanstead? :}

[piperboy84]

Don't feel bad, I took the other half for a drink at the hotel bar in Liverpool last week, she ordered some shyte with an umbrella in it and I got a gin and tonic, the smarmy scouse git gave me a bill for 22 quid then was hovering around looking for a tip the cheeky bar steward.

[Simon T]

Steady on there!

Simon (another scouser)

[piperboy84]

Sorry Simon you are right I apologise and retract the Scouse bit. Smarmy git still stands

[xrayalpha]

Tried parking a car at an airport?

[The Ancient Geek]

Do you have any idea what it costs to run an airfield ?
Spend a few moments to figure out how many 152 landings it takes just to pay one man a decent wage. How many men do you need ?.
Now add in rates, taxes, CAA fees, maintainance, assorted overheads etc.

An airfield takes up several hundred acres of land worth a few million so you need a 10 percent pretax return on that to make it worthwhile to keep the developers at bay.

Its an expensive business and if it cannot make a decent profit it will be lost.

[Simon T]

Fair 😀

Simon

[Gertrude the Wombat]

An airfield takes up several hundred acres of land worth a few million
Only if it's in the middle of nowhere.

If it's anywhere with people around it's not "a few million", it's from "a few hundred million" up to a billion or two.

You try explaining to shareholders why their £1bn asset is earning £25 a handful of times per hour. Before costs.

[chevvron]

This week I needed to visit the area and I chose EGLK, and due to short notice took the ac available a C152. I was outraged to be charged £27.80 and no offer of discount for fuel uplift.
£12.60 incl VAT at an airfield (hard runway) not far from Blackbushe

[John R81]

Must admit I avoid Blackbushe because of the landing fee (helicopter). Never been in there.