PARMA AIRPORT LIMP A TALE OF WOE
Parma Giuseppe Verdi Airport "A Sorry Tale"
Once apon a time in the fine and upstanding ancient City of Parma a few fine folk got together and decieded to reach for the sky.
They had this dream for many a moon when finally some land near their fine City became available , it being flat and well drained they slowly rolled the field of any imperfections ,erected a hut and started flying their primitive aeroplanes for the sheer enjoyment of being above the land flying with the birds.
These fine men were the founders of flight in the province of Parma.
Then as things always do, others from the City and surrounding areas began to notice these wonderful men in their flying machines and asked to be trained in the art and soon after a Flying Club called G.Bolla was founded .
This grew and grew with its membershio reaching well into the hundreds, hangers were built , a bar was opened ,then a restaurant . All was a picture of smiles and joyful happiness for many many years .
Progress continued apace and soon what had started out as a well mowed flat grass field turned almost over night into a 2400 metre long paved runway with flashig lights and white lines leading to every part of the tarmac.
The City Fathers then commissioned a new terminal building on the far side of the Club base and as time went slowy on began to be filled with many souls wearing a multitude of wonderful uniforms ,and with managers and directors each with his own title . Slowly as time went on ,more and more officila personel arrived to "work" at the terminal building ,everyone being busy sending criptic notes to eachother and sharpening their pencils . And almost by accident the odd medium sized aeroplane would land with fair paying passagers , not many maybe one or two per week carrying no more than a dozen souls at a time. But this envolved even more staff being taken on , Fire station being built and manned , cleaners for the terminal ,luggage handlers ,and many more .
This wetted the appetite of some administrators who suddenly started to paint even more white lines, followed by yellow lines and lights along the runway, It all looked very pretty and well kept , the Club on one side of the Airfield the City Fathers controlling the other side. Both lived happily for many years during this slow development,.Each enjoying their own dream. In the middle was the control tower almost presiding over the daily proceedings very much like a referee at a friendly game of football.
Each enjoyed the freedom of the skies and under the strick control of the Tower shared the runway .Mind you it was never very busy in those happy golden days with only one or two Civil Passenger aircraft arriving each week. and the several small Club training aircraft flying daily always giving way as tradition dictated to their larger counter parts . Everybody understood their place and tried to get on together for the common benifit of all.
Many visitors arived in small aeroplanes from all over Europe to visit the City, all being made welcomed at the Club house while the less adventurous at the ever growing terminal building.
The City of Parma being the food Capital of Italy and jsut being chosen by the EU commissioners as the Food Authority Office Base now aspired to rival their neigbouring Cities of Bologna and Milan by trying to become an International Airport. and so started to court many airlines for their custom. To facilitate The City fathers gave the running of the Airport over to professional administrators who it was sad to note, never having had the joyful dreams of flying through the skies , treated the airfield musch like a local Chieftom with new dictates being issued almost on a daily basis without consulting anyone . They Pained even more white lines everywhere, to employed even more staff to police these all happily driving around in a variety of vehicles with flashing lights . There quickly came the day that there were more staff and administrators than passengers .
So what to do ?? The Administrators now had a problem ,with all these fixed costs money had to be rasied ,and as their ego was ever growing ,everything was now costed down to the last Lira, fuel prices for small aeroplanes was raied ,and then in a fit of rage an old established resident flying business on the airfield who was the only other vendor of Fuel , stopped supplying fuel to everything except the odd visiting Jet Plane. This left visiting small airfcraft who drink different fuel to the Jets had nowhere to refuel and stranded and at the mercy of the now only fuel vender who would only serve you at his whim and at higher prices .
To raise even more money passager tax was introduced even to friends who would go for a joy around the skies of Parma ride with their pilot friend from the club in their small airoplanes.
Still this was not enough to sadisfie the ever more bureaucratic administrators with their ever growing number of staff. Landing Charges were now raised. Still not enough , So they went courting the International Airlines and after a long and protracted courtship they found what they thought would be their Knight in Shining armour from a green land far away cross the Irish sea.
Great Excitment reigned , New works were immediately started , with more paved areas being laid. More white lines painted to guild the big birds to their resting place while they disgorged their load of fair paying passengers. The terminal was now too small so parking areas for small visting aircraft were commandeered in a rush for the erecting of waiting pens Cold in winter and boiling n summer as demanded by their Knight .
Other areas were taken over for the parking of old rusty service vehicles ,step ladders and a whole assortment of sun bleached trolleys and trucks.. Yet more small aircraft parkingi areas were taken over for car parking which up to now had been free ,but with the ever growing demand for money to cover costs have now an expensive hourly charge .
The Founders watched the progress with ever increasing interrest and initially happy to see their dream blossom . but they soon realisied that like a creeping weed the tentacles of the ever more self important administrators spread wider and wider untill even the gardens of the Aero Club where parents took their children to see the flying machines were fenced off and a slow and under handed policy of prohibition on visiting small planes started to take hold.
At first as this was no more than ever more form filling , Increased landing charges , Increasesd parking Fees and even not being allowed to park small birds on the grass areas used since time could remember, followed by a dictate that no planes could be left outside over night, and with no public hanger space available this effectively banned all small visiting aircraft coming to visit the Airefield or the City of Parma and its wonderful surroundings .
Excuses and explanations to the ever dwindling band of small aircraft owners and enthusiates continued to floww from the marbled offices of the administation building , some were invented to baffle foreign visiting samll aircrfat to send them on their way as fast as possible. After many complains new parking areas for visiting planes were painted on the vast tarmac but this was for only for 3 aircraft and with a strick time limit of only a few hours allowed , yet these are left empty for days and weeks at a time, One cannot even book a space in advance ahead of ones arrival.
This story has a sting in its tail even for the arrogant Administrators, for now that the White knight they so activily courted to bring his birds to their airport has started to excercise his power asking more and more from the administrators, His birds used to visit the field on a daily basis , now its only once a week in winter and three times a week in the summer, demanding more and more remuneration for his trouble.
What a fix to be in , the greed and sheer incompentence of the Airport Authorities have turned this amenity from a wonderful faclity serving the population of the whole province with communications for all its industries and leeisure activities for its population and flying enthusiats covering its costs and even making a small profit with everyone smiling and enjoying themselves to both being a drain on the wonderful City of Parma and a real pain to all visiting GA aircraft their pilots and passengers ,and insisiting on slowly suffocating the Club and its members .
What a sad day , lets hope the City Fathers finnaly wake up , take courage in both hands bring back an adminstrator that actually knows about ALL aircraft and their needs which will bring back the vitality and friendly reputation that this wonderful airport used to have .
Giuseppe Verdi whose name was given to the airport must be turning in his grave.
NO ANIMALS OR PERSONS WERE EITHER NAMED OR HARMED IN THE TELLING OF THIS TALE.
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