Useful airfield information and home of the forum's fuel price league tables.

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By Steve H
#870371
This is a substantial airfield within easy taxi ride of Avignon town centre.

To get to Avignon from the north, you have to get through Orange military airspace and airbase immediately to the north. I got a transit easily enough, but got held on two orbits while a flight of Mirage jets took off. Orange seems to be closed at the weekends though and the local flight information service will happily inform you if it is closed and you can then ignore the controlled airspace. Alternatively, there is a 1700’ transit route around to the west.

Avignon seems to be knows as ‘windy city’ and when I landed there in 140 / 17G37 I kinda had to agree with that view. There is a single hard and a single grass runway, both aligned 17 / 35 and 1880m and 700m respectively. The tower do seem to ask you to report at their various published VRP’s, so it is as well to have these readily available.

As I fly a taildragger, I was offered the grass runway, but took the hard instead, which I was pleased about as when I taxied on the grass runway, it seemed bumpy to me.

The tower were really excellent and helpful and spoke good English and took great care to help (probably because they were positioning an instrument training flight behind me and knew I was on a diversion). Refuelling was easy and you pay at the large and spacious Arrivals / Departures hall that is geared to commercial flights. There were of course tie downs available at the parking and I do advise you to use them, the wind really can get up there!

Landing and parking costs modest, to the point that I don’t remember them. To get back airside you do need to show your pilots licence and some photo ID, but they were relaxed otherwise. They do scan your luggage, but sensibly seem to apply different criteria if you are a pilot (they were happy to let my water and seat belt cutting knife through).

Avignon itself is a real gem. You MUST get a taxi and stay in the old walled town, don’t be idle and stay near the airport! There are many hotels and booking probably isn’t necessary in anything but peak season in August. Well worth the extra 15 minutes to look around the town, fabulous old intact city walls and of course the iconic bridge.
By dmatlock41
#876107
When I landed at Avignon last summer, winds were 25G40, 20 degrees off runway heading... not a lot of fun in a 172. I had come from Italy, but had a decent amount of fuel remaining. Even so, no airport in a 1 hour radius had less wind or better alignment. The tower told me to expect "severe" turbulence on final, but it was in fact no worse than moderate. ATC was helpful. They even sent a firetruck out to block the wind so I could taxi in after landing.

So check the weather before you go. There is a hotel walking distance from the airport; and the town itself is best reached by taxi. The Pope's castle residence is spectacularly sited and a well designed museum.
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By Pete L
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1621781
Landed here on the way back from Venice.

Medium sized regional airport with flying club, business aviation operation at end of main terminal.

Avignon itself is around a 25 euro taxi ride away through a massive regional shopping mall. The town still has its old ramparts and the papal palace is absolutely beautiful.

Sights shut at 7pm so recommend an early arrival or a longer stay, subject to the Mistral which was dying down as we arrived at 6pm.

Recommended for a night stop by skydriller. We ate in the Cours d'Honneur and it was great.

We stayed in the ibis at the Gare - it's a small one and has heavy security for the beggars but otherwise is very nice - rooms slightly bigger and the staff are nice. It is also right next to one of the gates.

Trams going in at the moment which makes the journey to the station longer. Taxi drivers are avoiding it like the plague so pre-book or wait somewhere else.

22.80 euros for an overnight. They classified us as a ULM at 0.5T. Only place I've been nagged for a yellow jacket on the apron.

Customs - France is now insisting on a GAR even on in-Schengen international arrivals. Avignon want 24hr PNR using form on their website.
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By skydriller
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1622082
Pete L beat me to it - we spent a couple of nights here on the way to Elba!! 8)

Approach/departure at the Airport has specific reporting points at no higher than 1700ft QNH, we approached from the west which gave us great views of the city on our LHS. If we had known where it was before flying in, about 3-4miles west of the western VFR reporting point is the Roman "Pont du Gard", probably the most famous Aquaduct in France, we went straight over it unknowingly!! The Mistral was blowing the day we arrived making out approach "sporting" to say the least, even Taylor Swift's posh bizjet looked to be fighting it as it lifted off after we landed!!

I echo what Pete says about Avignon itself, great place for a weekend visit, though due Tramway work our Taxi to/from the airport to our hotel (also Ibis?) was not the fastest journey and around 35-40Euros each way - I suspect we also had the more expensive "D" Tarif for both our journeys after 6pm there and before 9am back to the Airport, though they arrived promptly when called so no waiting around.

1T Robin DR400 charged 41 Euros for Landing fees & 2 nights parking on the grass.
I believe that broke down as 11.40Euro a day for parking & 18.20Euro Landing fee.

Pete L wrote:Customs - France is now insisting on a GAR even on in-Schengen international arrivals. Avignon want 24hr PNR using form on their website.


I had "a conversation" with the friendly "handling" girly about this too. I pointed her at the Current NOTAM about this which specifically excludes private GA from needing to clear customs/immigration etc for intra-shengen flights. She then agreed that actually this was actually just something they at Avignon airport blanket request because then their handling company (which does the airport FBO stuff too) doesnt get any hassle with the Douane/Police d'Air for their more important Bizjet people...ie getting everyone to do it is easier than separating private GA from Company bizjet from Bizjet Charter and having to explain etc...

For the sake of 1 minute on the airport website I just did it, but it is ABSOLUTELY NOT a french requirement for GA!!

Oh, and we didnt get any High-vis hassle, though perhaps they thought my Hawaiian shirt was bright enough!!

Regards, SD..
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By Pete L
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1622097
Cannes made us fill out a form as well, so it's not just Avignon. No hassle though, they just did it on the spot. All very friendly.