Airport Managers & Supervisors
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: EuroGA.org
Posts: 13,787
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Going via a flying club may or may not be a solution, because the airport authority will still chase you for the full landing fee if the said club was ...... shall we say .... "less than prompt" in handing over the money (to the airport authority) which you paid them 
This kind of thing has happened to me at more than one airport. I had to pay twice at one French one - not worth the trouble contesting it. It is especially bad if you fly an N-reg because the airport chases the US trustee owner who eventually passes the bill to you, with a stroppy letter to not do it again.
Norwich is a nice city to visit on a nice sunny day. They should encourage GA. The place has no flying activity to speak of most of the time, yet it has a huge amount of ground staff. Somebody has evidently set up a nice recruitment empire there. They should have a "GA terminal" - the flying schools/clubs there are not a solution because strictly speaking you need to be a member, and often there may not be anybody there who can accept a payment.
This kind of thing has happened to me at more than one airport. I had to pay twice at one French one - not worth the trouble contesting it. It is especially bad if you fly an N-reg because the airport chases the US trustee owner who eventually passes the bill to you, with a stroppy letter to not do it again.
Norwich is a nice city to visit on a nice sunny day. They should encourage GA. The place has no flying activity to speak of most of the time, yet it has a huge amount of ground staff. Somebody has evidently set up a nice recruitment empire there. They should have a "GA terminal" - the flying schools/clubs there are not a solution because strictly speaking you need to be a member, and often there may not be anybody there who can accept a payment.
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: uk
Posts: 278
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
IO540/Phil Space
Had you either of you bothered to check, you'd know that Saxonair - SaxonAir Charter Ltd - Private Air Charter-have been providing a dedicated G/A - FBO operation at Norwich since late last year and they will handle any sort of aircraft.
They have their own dedicated apron, superb office and lounge facilities with state of the art briefing equipment, no requirement to go through the nause of security prior to departure and what's more, they are authorised to collect the landing fee, which is cheaper than if you use the ordinary airport terminal facilities.
The only proviso is that, at the moment, PPR is necessary via Saxonair or ATC, but it's not a big deal and if you happen to forget you certainly won't be turned away.
The place has no flying activity to speak of most of the time, yet it has a huge amount of ground staff. Somebody has evidently set up a nice recruitment empire there.
Again, had you bothered to check, staffing throughout is down to the bare bones, many dedicated employees have not had contracts renewed and those that have stayed haven't had a pay rise for nearly two years.
The vast majority of them stay because they enjoy the working environment but they also accept that the economic times are tough, with just as hard time ahead, when the economy turns around so will aviation.
Nonetheless, you'd be pressed to get a better service at any comparable airport.
Had you either of you bothered to check, you'd know that Saxonair - SaxonAir Charter Ltd - Private Air Charter-have been providing a dedicated G/A - FBO operation at Norwich since late last year and they will handle any sort of aircraft.
They have their own dedicated apron, superb office and lounge facilities with state of the art briefing equipment, no requirement to go through the nause of security prior to departure and what's more, they are authorised to collect the landing fee, which is cheaper than if you use the ordinary airport terminal facilities.
The only proviso is that, at the moment, PPR is necessary via Saxonair or ATC, but it's not a big deal and if you happen to forget you certainly won't be turned away.
The place has no flying activity to speak of most of the time, yet it has a huge amount of ground staff. Somebody has evidently set up a nice recruitment empire there.
Again, had you bothered to check, staffing throughout is down to the bare bones, many dedicated employees have not had contracts renewed and those that have stayed haven't had a pay rise for nearly two years.
The vast majority of them stay because they enjoy the working environment but they also accept that the economic times are tough, with just as hard time ahead, when the economy turns around so will aviation.
Nonetheless, you'd be pressed to get a better service at any comparable airport.
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: East Anglia
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Norwich Airport has recently had a change of management. The airport have realised that GA doesn't work through the main terminal and have given the task of GA handling to SaxonAir, also a charter provider. They look after all areas from Gulfstream jets to Qualifying cross-country students.
The aim as I understand it is to provide a good service at a reasonable price according to aircraft weight to encourage GA back through SaxonAir on the Western side of the airport. They have their own Apron and facilities. Worth a look, good guys.
The aim as I understand it is to provide a good service at a reasonable price according to aircraft weight to encourage GA back through SaxonAir on the Western side of the airport. They have their own Apron and facilities. Worth a look, good guys.
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: suffolk
Posts: 78
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I think Goatface must work at Saxon/Norwich
I got a quote just now for C.172 ,single ,domestic landing. no parking required
£45.24 Inc VAT.
That is not cheap for an overmanned and inefficient airport (who now incidentally consider themselves so important and busy that they are PPR only!!
I got a quote just now for C.172 ,single ,domestic landing. no parking required
£45.24 Inc VAT.
That is not cheap for an overmanned and inefficient airport (who now incidentally consider themselves so important and busy that they are PPR only!!
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: uk
Posts: 278
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Overandout
I don't work for Saxonair and I agree that the current charges are steep, but Saxonair are negotiating hard to bring the landing fee for light aircraft down, I believe significant progress is being made in that direction.
The PPR element was introduced because staffing is so tight at the terminal and accordingly the handling guys needed to know when a non scheduled visiting aircraft needed to be catered for.
Now Saxonair take care of the vast majority of visitors, they also would like to see the PPR element withdrawn, again they are making progress.
I'm sure it'll be made very public when they win the battle.
As your comments regarding overstaffing and inefficiancy, I challenge you to produce the evidence because I certainly stand by my previous post in reply to IO540 and Phil Space.
I don't work for Saxonair and I agree that the current charges are steep, but Saxonair are negotiating hard to bring the landing fee for light aircraft down, I believe significant progress is being made in that direction.
The PPR element was introduced because staffing is so tight at the terminal and accordingly the handling guys needed to know when a non scheduled visiting aircraft needed to be catered for.
Now Saxonair take care of the vast majority of visitors, they also would like to see the PPR element withdrawn, again they are making progress.
I'm sure it'll be made very public when they win the battle.
As your comments regarding overstaffing and inefficiancy, I challenge you to produce the evidence because I certainly stand by my previous post in reply to IO540 and Phil Space.
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: EuroGA.org
Posts: 13,787
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
£45 for a C172 is way OTT.
You must be kidding. Catered for ... how? Do they need time to lay on the champagne and sandwiches? GA traffic is generally able to land, taxi, park, and the occupants get out on their own and use their legs to vacate the airport. No handling is required or expected.
I know some top-end GA likes to use handling services which is why Norwich etc should provide this (£100+) and for that you get the taxi and hotel etc all booked. But normal GA doesn't need it.
The PPR element was introduced because staffing is so tight at the terminal and accordingly the handling guys needed to know when a non scheduled visiting aircraft needed to be catered for.
I know some top-end GA likes to use handling services which is why Norwich etc should provide this (£100+) and for that you get the taxi and hotel etc all booked. But normal GA doesn't need it.
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Philippines
Posts: 460
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Blackpool is up there with the worse GA airports.
Since Jet2 started operations from their portacabin, the airport has suffered delusions of grandeur.
Ridiculous landing fees and attitude towards private passengers and the like.
You're made to feel it's a privilege and a concession to land there (which it's not).
One example of an airport not realising that it's there to serve aviation and not be served by it.
Blackpool International!!!
Whatever.
SITW
Since Jet2 started operations from their portacabin, the airport has suffered delusions of grandeur.
Ridiculous landing fees and attitude towards private passengers and the like.
You're made to feel it's a privilege and a concession to land there (which it's not).
One example of an airport not realising that it's there to serve aviation and not be served by it.
Blackpool International!!!
Whatever.
SITW
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Central London
Posts: 460
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Overandout
Norwich airport management have shot themselves in the foot with their attitude over the last few years. They can't disguise the fact that GA is unwanted on their small airport trying to play with the big boys. It is almost like they are out to expel light aviation from what is a very quite corner of the UK.
Commercial traffic was driven away by a tax on passengers which the airport called a development fee.
This from Norwich Airport Reviews and Norwich Airport Passenger Opinions about Norwich Airport standards
sums the place up.
As your comments regarding overstaffing and inefficiancy, I challenge you to produce the evidence because I certainly stand by my previous post in reply to IO540 and Phil Space.
Commercial traffic was driven away by a tax on passengers which the airport called a development fee.
This from Norwich Airport Reviews and Norwich Airport Passenger Opinions about Norwich Airport standards
sums the place up.
Probably the worst experience in modern travel can be had at Norwich Airport. I fly on business regularly through Norwich, and have done for almost 20 years. Check in staff are often rude, and spend more time chatting and discussing the previous nights clubbing events during checking in passengers. Compared to all other airports I experience regularly worldwide, it is the only Airport which applies a supplementary fee (now £5 per person) which is not advertised until you arrive at the airport. If You do not pay the 'Airport development Fee' you WILL not be allowed to go through to departures, whether domestic or international. For this fee, you obtain the privilege of a single choice of Cafeteria (with extortionate costs for food and drinks), a single Bar, a single shop, and toilet. Parking fees - you get 5 minutes drop off time (which i'm told will be reduced to 3 mins in Jan 2009) in the short stay airport only, and if you exceed this must pay a £1.50 fee, and any other time is again extortionate.
As someone who is forced to use this airport twice a month to and from Amsterdam, the attractions soon pall. True, NIA check staff now bother to open earlier than one hour before departure, (huge improvement) but not so long ago we poor suckers on the Amsterdam flight would all be queing one hour before the published departure time - the desk wouldn't open till one hour before ETD after which someone would deign to leave their coffee break to process the huge queue whereupon we would immediately be called to the gate. After packing us on, we would frequently take off half an hour before scheduled time. In the ladies toilets in Departures, there is no PA. The individuals on the staff at Norwich Airport are amiable enough, but Norwich Airport's management have obviously never used an airport as a customer in their life, and have no idea how real airports serve real customers
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Uckfield, East Sussex
Posts: 69
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
By contrast, I flew my daughter back to Uni at Exeter last summer- They could not have been more pleasant and helpful- Landing fee for a c150 around 18 quid, and 2 hours free parking.
No PPR required, just a call to approach in good time, and the guy on security had a sense of humour too!:
No PPR required, just a call to approach in good time, and the guy on security had a sense of humour too!:
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Central London
Posts: 460
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Norwich were like that a long time ago. I have pictures from the early nineties parked on one of the main stands right outside the terminal.
Nowadays they would prefer I park in Tibenham
More passenger comment here
Norwich Airport - Norwich, Norfolk - Airports - Qype
Nowadays they would prefer I park in Tibenham
More passenger comment here
Norwich Airport - Norwich, Norfolk - Airports - Qype
Omniport Holdings, the owners of Norwich airport seem to have taken what was once a pleasant and friendly little local airport and turned it into an overly priced (considering the supplements to fly from Norwich) and unpleasant experience for regular travellers. The £5 'Development Fee’ which is classed as a contribution which is not voluntary in today’s current climate is even more offensive than it was when they introduced it. For a family of 4, the fee almost now covers the petrol cost to drive to Luton or Stansted, where the facilities are far more numerous and varied. I personally have stopped using the airport as I would rather take a stance and drive an extra 40 minutes to an alternative airport, and if others would do the same it would force omniport to remove this unjust fee. No other business I know is allowed, once you purchase your ticket, to add an un-announced supplement to pay for work which should come from the companies already substantial profits. The fact that Flybe have pulled out in protest says much about the companies couldn’t care less attitude. Hopefully a government petition will prompt an investigation into this.
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: suffolk
Posts: 78
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Re; Innefficiency and overmanning at Norwich.
They may have changed a bit but the last time I landed there (domestically) I was parked on the eastern Apron , (which i believe is technically landside). Therefore from C 172 inbound from Old Buck, I waited by the aircraft for some time before being collected by a bus. Said bus then had to stop at a Security gate to get Airside. Off the bus and into security portacabin (along with the driver who was also searched) for a full feel-down and bag search. This is just getting into Norwich.
And goatface can seriously say this is a sensible way to run an airfield?
Needless to say getting out again was a farce with search and being photographed.
Let us hope Saxonair can see that this rubbish is stopped.
They may have changed a bit but the last time I landed there (domestically) I was parked on the eastern Apron , (which i believe is technically landside). Therefore from C 172 inbound from Old Buck, I waited by the aircraft for some time before being collected by a bus. Said bus then had to stop at a Security gate to get Airside. Off the bus and into security portacabin (along with the driver who was also searched) for a full feel-down and bag search. This is just getting into Norwich.
And goatface can seriously say this is a sensible way to run an airfield?
Needless to say getting out again was a farce with search and being photographed.
Let us hope Saxonair can see that this rubbish is stopped.
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Cheshire, California, Geneva, and Paris
Age: 67
Posts: 867
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I can remember going there in the 1980s and it was like that then. One Saturday evening in the summer and very quiet. My two friends and I walking across the ramp to fly back to Fairoaks and suddenly shouted at by security man with very "military" manner who then proceeded to bawl at us that we were not allowed on the ramp. I explained to him that we were pilots walking to our aeroplane and not spotters. He turned on his heels and walked off without a word of apology for the "bawling out" he had just given us. I never went back there again.
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: uk
Posts: 278
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Hence the reason for drawing your attention to the new services offered by Saxonair to G/A and everyone else, there's no doubt that they are trying very hard to make visiting Norwich the pleasureable experience it once was.
As for me, I don't run the place, I just work there, having being reduced to turning up each day, doing my job to the best of my ability and going home.
Get my drift?
As for me, I don't run the place, I just work there, having being reduced to turning up each day, doing my job to the best of my ability and going home.
Get my drift?
