Civil Airfield Genova / Sestri (LIMJ)

Stopped there for lunch, was expected a 120eur combo for the mandatory handling, but they charged way more for all sorts of things. Complete rip-off will never go back. Flight/approach has great views.

Apart from the fairly high fees, absolutely fine. First, there’s an informative website: https://www.airport.genova.it/en/private-aviation-2/. You’ll find the fees and the web form for PPR there. They respond very quickly. Except for a few weekends, and if you only want to stay a couple of days, there are no issues with parking permission. You currently still have to submit a short Denghe declaration afterwards; that’s it. Strictly speaking, per the AIP you’re also supposed to call BP in advance for fueling; I don’t know whether that’s really necessary or helpful. Approach is completely straightforward, both VFR and VFR. Final for 28 past the city and the harbor is of course quite spectacular. The Avgas pump is on the west side of the northern apron. You can call again on the handling frequency (136.825) to ask for fueling staff. At the fuel station there are warnings everywhere saying “no decal, no fuel,” but in practice not a word was said about those ugly red stickers. Payment by BP card or credit card. Price: €2.37, so at the very low end for Italy and quite okay by European standards as well. Parking for light aircraft is usually on stands 310–313 (all the way to the north), which don’t require pushback. Transfer to the terminal was quick. Very short walking distances there: restrooms, exit, café, rental car counters, bus, etc. The rental cars themselves are also not far away. The airport is close to the motorway on-ramp, so you get to your destination very quickly—in our case the Portofino peninsula, i.e., Santa Margherita Ligure, Rapallo, Camogli. We particularly liked Camogli with its small harbor and its beach.

For departure you again go to the arrivals area (“Meeting Point”) and give handling a quick call. Routine security check, then a quick stop at the OPS office to pay. Fees for a two-ton aircraft are about €210. Add only €5 for each day of parking. About €20 per pax on top (but if there are two of you, you can enter “2x Crew, 0x Pax” already during the PPR process and then you don’t pay that). So: not cheap, but if you make it a proper leg of a trip, it’s not too much. Also, the fairly low Avgas price and the inexpensive rental cars offset it significantly—you end up spending more at other places overall. Then quickly back to the aircraft. Departure was completely straightforward; the ground staff reported our aircraft “ready” right away so we could simply request startup and go. However, on an IFR departure to the north you’re initially vectored in the wrong direction (and out over the sea). If the weather permits, consider filing Zulu instead (pickup at VOG or similar) and initially depart VFR via the Passo dei Giovi.