Fleet Care Program at Bern-Belp (LSZB)

Who runs a fleet program at Bern, and why?

Charter operators with two or three aircraft on the certificate, corporate flight departments managing a mix of types, and occasionally an FBO that wants predictable invoicing for its managed fleet. The common thread is recurring work: if your aircraft overnights at Bern more than once a month, individual call-outs become expensive and the ramp coordination eats time.

A twelve-month program replaces ad-hoc requests with a fixed calendar. You tell us which tail numbers are based here, what your typical rotation looks like, and when you want interiors done; we build the schedule, assign the same lead technician to your fleet, and send service reports after every visit. One invoice covers all tails for the month. If an aircraft goes AOG or you add an unscheduled positioning leg, the program gives you priority crew allocation—no waiting for a quote or a gap in the diary.

The program renews automatically unless you cancel sixty days before the anniversary, so there is no annual re-tendering. Most clients adjust the scope after the first quarter once they see which services they actually use.

What changes at Bern-Belp?

Bern sits at 1,675 ft on a single 1,730 m runway, six kilometres south-east of the city centre in Belp. The elevation and runway length keep traffic to business jets, turboprops and regional aircraft; you will not see heavy iron here. The airport is not slot-coordinated—Slot Coordination Switzerland handles only Geneva and Zurich—so PPR is straightforward and turnaround windows are easier to hold.

All general-aviation and business-aviation handling goes through the General Aviation Center, operated by Flughafen Bern AG under the name Ground Services Bern (telephone +41 31 960 21 31, frequency 131.410). Customs and immigration are available during aerodrome operating hours, which means international flights clear on the field. As a third-party detailing crew we notify Ground Services twenty-four hours ahead, collect our airside escort at the GAC, and bring our own water and power; the handler expects us to work around their GPU and tow schedule, not the other way round.

Winter at this elevation means frost and de-icing fluid; if your aircraft overnights with Type I residue on the belly and nacelles, a quick exterior wash before the next departure keeps the paint clean and the logbook free of deferred cosmetic squawks. Spring pollen is heavy in the Belp valley, and summer thunderstorms drop pine resin from the surrounding forest. A monthly dry wash inside the program calendar prevents the buildup that turns into a two-hour decon job in August.

What does the twelve-month calendar actually include?

The program starts with a service plan for each tail number: quick exterior turns between legs, a monthly cabin refresh, a full exterior wash and single-stage polish every quarter, and an annual brightwork detail. You choose the frequency; we slot the work into your flight schedule. If your aircraft repositions to another base mid-contract, we pause that tail and shift the budget to the others.

Every visit generates a dated service record and a set of photographs—leading edges, belly, gear bays, cheat line, cabin high-touch areas—stored in a shared folder so your ops team can see the condition without asking. After each quarter we sit down (or dial in) to review the records, adjust frequencies if needed, and plan any seasonal work: a pre-winter hydrophobic treatment, a post-summer decon, a deep interior before charter season.

AOG cover is included: if an aircraft goes tech at Bern or you need an unscheduled cabin clean before a client leg, the program gives you a dedicated phone line and priority crew dispatch. We bill AOG call-outs separately, but you jump the queue ahead of one-off requests.

How do you coordinate with the handler and our flight crew?

Ground Services Bern receives our arrival notice twenty-four hours before we come airside; they issue the escort and tell us which stand the aircraft will be on. If the jet is already parked overnight, we ask for a morning window after engine shutdown and before any tow to the hangar. If it is a quick turn between legs, we work to the slot your dispatcher has filed: wheels-down to pushback, minus the time your crew needs for their walk-around and the handler needs for refuelling.

We do not touch avionics bays, static ports or pitot probes; if the aircraft has an open tech-log item we ask the captain or your maintenance controller whether any panel is no-go before we start. Inside the cabin we follow the OEM material guide you provide during onboarding—what can take water, what gets dry-wiped, whether the galley stone is sealed or raw. If your crew prefers to supervise the interior, we schedule that visit when they are on the ground; if they are positioning out, we photograph before-and-after and send the report to your ops desk.

Recurring work builds familiarity: after the first month the same technician knows your fleet's quirks, where the belly streaks appear, which cabin seats show wear, and how your chief pilot likes the logbook entry worded.

What about seasonal work and brightwork?

The twelve-month program includes one annual brightwork pass per tail number—exhaust outlets, nacelle lips, leading edges, windscreen surrounds—and two seasonal exterior treatments. Brightwork is scheduled during a longer overnight or a maintenance window when the aircraft will be on the ground for six hours; we compound, polish and seal, then apply a hydrophobic dressing that lasts three to four months depending on flight hours.

Seasonal treatments are timed to the Swiss climate: a pre-winter decon in October to strip summer insects and resin before the first freeze, and a spring wash in April after de-icing season ends. If your aircraft flies through a European winter, the belly and nacelles collect Type I and Type IV residue, road salt from the apron, and carbon scoring from APU starts in cold-soaked conditions; the spring wash prevents that mix from etching the paint.

If you want to add a service mid-year—say, a deep cabin detail before a charter contract or a full exterior polish before a sale inspection—we quote it separately but schedule it inside the program calendar so it does not disrupt your operations.

How does invoicing and contract renewal work?

You receive one monthly invoice covering all tail numbers in the program. The amount is fixed for the twelve-month term and based on the service frequencies you chose at onboarding: if you selected monthly interiors and quarterly exteriors for two aircraft, that total is divided by twelve. AOG call-outs, unscheduled deep cleans and any added services are billed separately in the month they occur.

Sixty days before the anniversary we send a renewal notice with the option to adjust scope—add a tail, change frequencies, drop a service you did not use. If we hear nothing, the program rolls over for another twelve months at the same rate. If your fleet changes base or you sell an aircraft, we pause that tail and recalculate the monthly amount for the remaining term.

The contract includes quarterly reviews: we meet (or video-call) with your operations team, walk through the service records and photos, and discuss what worked and what needs tweaking. Most clients tighten the interior frequency and relax the exterior schedule after the first quarter, once they see the actual condition between visits.