What's Wrong With Kemble Then?
 

Fellow Flyers,

As a resident of Kemble and out of personal curiosity I have noticed a distinct downturn in the numbers of visiting aircraft to the place - even on a sunny weekend afternoon.

Rather than ask "I wonder why?", because I have a fair idea anyway, why not air your views here - pretty sure the management will get to see this - know what I mean?!

ANDY CUBIN

Let me guess.........something to do with Runway & Nav charges.
Seem to recall they were recently increased.

I do like coming to Kemble and sitting in the sunshine outside the AV8 can be oh so pleasant. I am looking forward to June 20th although have no idea what charges will be meeted out.

My view is that if you don't like the charges, go somewhere else.
I was in Belgium on Sunday and when I looked at the fuel bill and nav charges on Monday I was a bit irked, but will no doubt go back....sometime. 10 Euros per pax and tax on the fuel even though it was being exported.

Airfields operators are far too narrow minded in there decision making when it comes to charging. Light singles and twins are hardly going to impinge upon the well being of a runway surface that takes positioning 747's, so every G.A. movement has to be a bonus when you are employing the good guys up in the Twr and the RFF chaps. I guess Kemble will have to look at their revenue and see if they have set their rates at a realistic level.

I would have thought that Kemble was nowhere near capacity usage from my recent visits. The hike in fees while not outrageous is irksome and doesn't bear comparison with equivalent arrangements across the channel.

It would seem more sensible to keep landing fees low and get more traffic, since in GA terms traffic breeds traffic, because we PPLs are a sociable lot.

This ought to be both GA friendly and economically sound.

I hope the new airport management try it out for comparison with the current arrangements since the answer will then be clear and unarguable in the numbers.

I dont have a problem with the fees, landed there on Saturday and was charged £14 with the option of paying £7 with a fuel uplift.

Most places are around the £10 - £20 landing fee with far less than Kemble has to offer!!
:confused:

Well it was £8. However, it never ceases to amaze me how these places manage to stay afloat with such miniscule landing fees. Given the cost of land'n'labour in this coutry £14 sounds like good value. Especially somewhere as nice as Kemble.

Quite a number of owners and pilots were regular visitors from Blackbushe, but I know that many of them are not going so often sinse the recent price rises.

The manager of Kemble asked for feedback on prices...He has been getting it, but the prices dont seem to have changed.

Pilots are indeed a fickle bunch..... they will fly maybe an extra 20 mins to save £5 in landing fees....It doesnt stack up, but thats just the way it is.

Fly....

Kemble is a great location and has great facilities but as others have said, it is the hike in landing fees that have put most people off. A rise from £8 to £10 might have been easier to swallow bit to £14 was a hell of a jump.

In the global scheme of things it is not a lot of money but to a lot of pilots it is and they vote with there feet.

Even the management needed to raise the fees then perhaps doing it over a bit longe term in smaller chunks might work better.


As flyboy says pilots are indeed a fickle bunch!

Andy

As a fairly regular visitor (4-5 times a year), its just circumstance that means I haven't visited in a couple of months. However, I hope to soon and maybe this thread is the required prod to pop over - if only to use the bogs at AV8 :cool:

At £8, I though Kemble cheap as chips - so I've no problem with £14. I need to visit the Borders later this summer and the only strip is a rough bit of asphalt with no facilities and the chance my spam-can will get nuzzled by a cow. For this I'll pay £10 (and will do so willingly because of the convienience & I always have the option not to)

-bcfc

Compared with £12 for Booker and £10 for White Waltham, £14 isn't too bad and if they discount to £7 if you take fuel, well then I can't really say that they are out of step. No discount at Booker for taking on fuel...:{

Nothing wrong with Kemble - it was awfully busy the other day. Lots of pilots having a chat about why it had 'AD' painted on the runway. See they've got rid of that Britannia now. :-)

sB

I haven't flown into Kemble for a while because the Beagle Pup is currently in bits in Devonair's Hangar at Kemble... !!!! :{

Should be flying out of Kemble in a few weeks time when we get the aeroplane back.

Then yes we will be regular visitors for our 50 hrs and proper social visits. The flying club at my home base tends to use Kemble as a fly-out destination once in a while.

£14 is pretty cheap for landing fees still.... compared to another place not a million miles from Kemble...

Best wishes,

Charlie Zulu.

when I landed there recently I'm sure it was £11.00 per tonne or part thereof.
I was in a PA31 which worked out at £44.00 - not cheap !!

nobody mentioned a discount for fuel uplift

Where's the Britannia gone:confused:

The Brit hasn't really gone... was just commenting on Kemble's proximity to Aston Down.

Kemble
 

Heard a rumour that Air Atlantique may be moving its operations to Kemble, lock, stock....anyone heard anything on this??

Does this downturn co-incide with Gloucester's recent upsurge in visitors, following their new landing fee policy?

Gloucester now only charge £10 inc. for PPL training flights, PFA Permit aircraft and anything under 750Kg. Other singles pay £10 + VAT when they buy AVGAS, twins buying 200ltrs or more only pay £15. Full details are here

http://www.gloucestershireairport.co...harges2004.DOC

With more hard runways, navaids, ATC, Radar etc. surely it's better value for money?

MATSPART3
And a great service you and 360 Backtrack and your collegues give us as well.

By the way, ever thought of introducing automatic freq change during the busy periods for a/c departing the circuit, Twr - App?

Question: Flying a homebased a/c. I bought fuel prior to dep, returned 10 hours later and bought more fuel and paid full runway charge. I am not the owner and it is not a club a/c - am I entitled to a reduction in the runway charge?

I still like popping over to Kemble though:ok:

With the fuel uplift the landing fees at Kemble are still doable and even cheap.

However if you are not able to take up the required amount or don't want fuel I think they are on the steep side.

£18 for the Lance and £14 for the Maule is no bargain.

When these prices were first announced youcould ring the manager and have a moan, did that but seems to have had little effect.

AV8 is a great facility for the GA world and worth its weight in gold.

FD

I'm happy with a £14 landing fee at Kemble - decent runway, decent food and facilities. Paid the same last time I was at Duxford (a few months ago), again no complaints. My two local fields (smaller, fewer facilities) are £10 and £12

How else do airfields pay their business rates, staff, etc. if we're not willing to pay a reasonable amount for their use?

Not quite.....watch the weight limits. Singles over 1.5MT and twins over 2.5MT get no discount - no matter how much fuel you buy. Can get VERY expensive at £16.50 per MT + VAT.