Fleet Care Program at Alghero Fertilia (LIEA)

What changes at Alghero Fertilia?

Alghero Fertilia sits at 87 feet elevation on Sardinia's north-west coast, its single 3,000‑metre runway—02/20—offering generous length for super-midsize and heavy jets even on warm summer days. Traffic is concentrated in the seasonal leisure window; expect higher apron density, tighter stand allocation and longer handler response times between May and September. Winter months are quieter, which can work in your favour for scheduled exterior work when the ramp is less congested.

The airport is managed by SO.GE.A.AL S.p.A., the operator responsible for apron access and airside coordination. No independent handling agents could be verified at the field, so all ground-service requests—including third-party contractor access—flow through the airport authority. That means escort requirements, vehicle permits and stand assignments are handled centrally. For a fleet program, we secure annual airside passes and coordinate the service calendar with the operator in advance, so each visit is logged and cleared before your aircraft arrives.

Salt air is the dominant environmental factor. Paint oxidises faster, belly panels show streaking after a handful of legs, and brightwork dulls unless it is sealed. A monthly wash cycle and quarterly polish keep corrosion at bay; leaving an aircraft unwashed for the season will cost you in single-stage correction work later.

How does a twelve-month program differ from booking each visit separately?

One-off detailing is reactive: you call when the cabin needs a deep clean or the paint looks tired, we find a slot, quote the job and mobilise. That works for transient aircraft, but it introduces delays, variable pricing and no guarantee of crew availability during peak season. A fleet program inverts the model. We build a service calendar at the start of the contract—quick turns every two weeks, interiors monthly, exteriors quarterly, brightwork twice a year—and allocate the same crew to your tails for the duration. You receive a fixed monthly invoice per aircraft, and every visit is logged with photos and notes that feed into a quarterly review with your operations team.

The operational advantage is predictability. Your chief pilot knows exactly when the next wash is due, and if an AOG request comes through—bird strike, hydraulic leak staining, cabin spill before a charter leg—the program guarantees priority response because crew and equipment are already earmarked. For aircraft operating a seasonal schedule out of Alghero, that continuity matters: the same technician who polished the nacelles in April will spot early corrosion on the leading edges in July and address it before it becomes a repaint issue.

What does the airport operator expect from a third-party detailing crew at Alghero?

Because SO.GE.A.AL manages apron access directly, every contractor working airside must hold a valid pass, carry third-party liability insurance and submit a method statement for any task that involves chemicals, ladders or equipment near the aircraft. We maintain annual permits and coordinate each visit in advance, so the operator knows when we will be on stand, which tail number we are servicing and how long the aircraft will remain static.

Water use is a common friction point at Italian airports. Alghero enforces waste-water containment for any wet wash that produces runoff; we use rinseless chemistry and microfibre application to eliminate discharge, which satisfies the environmental requirements and allows us to work on the open ramp without bunding or tanker support. For dry work—interiors, brightwork polishing, cockpit detailing—the operator simply requires that we log in and out through the handler and leave the stand clean.

The seasonal traffic surge means stand allocation can shift on short notice. If your aircraft is moved from the original stand, we follow it; if the slot is delayed, we adjust the crew schedule. That flexibility is built into the program, and because we coordinate directly with the airport authority, there are no surprises on the day.

Which services are included in the Fleet Care Program, and how are they scheduled?

The program covers the full appearance spectrum: quick turns between legs, monthly cabin detailing, seasonal exterior washes and twice-yearly brightwork correction. Each service is scheduled around your flight calendar, not a fixed date, so if an aircraft is away for two weeks, the interior moves to the next available window after it returns to Alghero.

Quick turns—typically a dry wash of the belly, gear doors and leading edges, plus a cabin tidy and galley wipe-down—happen every ten to fourteen days, depending on utilisation. Monthly interiors include vacuum, leather conditioning, carpet spotting, galley deep clean and lavatory sanitising; no disassembly, but thorough enough to reset the cabin between charter blocks. Exteriors are washed quarterly using rinseless chemistry, with a single-stage polish on the fuselage if oxidation is present. Brightwork—nacelle lips, exhaust surrounds, door handles—is polished twice a year to remove corrosion and restore the hydrophobic coating.

Every visit generates a service report with time-stamped photos, fluid top-ups noted and any paint or material defects flagged for your maintenance team. At the end of each quarter, we sit down with your ops manager to review the logs, adjust the calendar if your schedule has changed and plan any additional work—decon, cheat-line correction, gear-bay detailing—for the next period.

Why does the coastal location at Alghero demand a recurring appearance schedule?

Salt deposition begins the moment an aircraft lands. Alghero's proximity to the Mediterranean means every flight in and out coats the belly, gear bays and lower fuselage in a fine saline mist that accelerates oxidation, dulls paint and etches brightwork if left unwashed. A single summer month without a wash cycle will leave visible streaking on the nacelles and corrosion bloom on exposed aluminium; by the end of the season, you are looking at a full single-stage polish to recover the finish.

Interiors suffer too. Sardinia's summer heat and humidity create condensation in closed cabins, which promotes mould growth in carpet backing, leather cracking and odour retention in soft furnishings. A monthly deep clean with proper ventilation and conditioning keeps materials stable; skipping it for two or three months means you will need a full decon and possibly panel replacement before the aircraft is guest-ready again.

For charter operators, the reputational cost is immediate. A client boards at Alghero, sees streaked paint and a stale cabin, and the complaint goes straight to the broker. A fleet program treats appearance as scheduled maintenance, not a cosmetic afterthought, and the ROI shows in repeat bookings and resale value.

How do AOG requests work within the program, and what is the response time?

AOG cover is included: if an aircraft in the program suffers a hydraulic leak that stains the belly, a bird strike that leaves organic residue on the radome or a cabin spill two hours before a charter leg, you call the dedicated mobile number and the allocated crew mobilises. Because equipment and chemistry are pre-positioned and airside access is already cleared, response time at Alghero is typically ninety minutes from call to arrival on stand, assuming the aircraft is accessible and the handler has confirmed the stand is secure.

Priority allocation means the crew assigned to your fleet drops other work to handle the request. That is the trade-off of the program: you pay a fixed monthly rate, and in return your aircraft jump the queue when something urgent comes through. For transient operators booking one-off work, AOG response depends on crew availability and can stretch to several hours or next-day if we are committed elsewhere.

Every AOG visit is logged in the service history, and if the issue—say, a recurring hydraulic weep—appears more than once, we flag it in the quarterly review so your maintenance team can address the root cause. The goal is not just to clean up the symptom but to help you spot patterns that affect both appearance and airworthiness.