Fleet Care Program at Catania Fontanarossa (LICC)
Recurring appearance management for Sicily-based fleets—scheduled turns, fixed budgets, priority access.
The Fleet Care Program at Catania Fontanarossa provides Sicily-based charter operators and corporate flight departments with a twelve-month appearance calendar built around your flying schedule. Rather than arranging individual cleans between legs, you work from a fixed service plan: scheduled quick turns, monthly cabin deep-cleans, seasonal exterior polish and brightwork restoration, and priority allocation when an AOG forces an unplanned turnaround. One invoice covers every tail number in the program; one contact manages the calendar, crew dispatch, and quarterly reviews with your operations team.
08/26 · 2560 m
AIP and airport data39 ft
4.3 km
Catania city (Universal Weather: 4.5 km; it.wikipedia: 5.5 km SE)Why commit to a twelve-month program at Catania?
Recurring aircraft spend more time on the stand than transient visitors, and Sicily's coastal climate—salt spray from the Ionian Sea, volcanic ash from Etna, summer UV—accumulates faster than the typical European base. A one-off exterior wash every few months leaves oxidation in the clear coat and tarnish on the brightwork; cabin spills and galley residue harden between ad-hoc cleans. The Fleet Care Program reverses that: every visit is already in the calendar, the crew knows your aircraft, and the budget is fixed at the start of the year.
Charter operators benefit most. When your fleet turns three or four times a week, you cannot afford to negotiate scope and price each time or wait for a technician to become free. The program guarantees priority crew allocation, 24/7 AOG cover, and a standing airside pass arrangement with your handler. For corporate flight departments with two or three tail numbers at Fontanarossa, the program consolidates invoicing and gives you a quarterly appearance review—photos, service history, and a walk-around with your chief pilot.
What changes at Catania Fontanarossa?
Catania sits at 39 feet elevation, four kilometres from the city centre, with a single 2560-metre runway (08/26). The airport is fully slot-coordinated—every departure and arrival, including general and business aviation, requires a slot obtained through your handling agent. That means you cannot assume a thirty-minute turnaround will fit between legs; if the slot moves, the service window moves with it. We build the Fleet Care calendar around your filed schedule and adjust when slots shift, but you must tell us as soon as operations confirms the change.
Volcanic ash from Mount Etna closes the airport periodically—usually no more than a day—but ash fallout on parked aircraft is a recurring problem even when the runway remains open. Fine ash embeds in seals, static ports, and the cheat line; it cannot be blown off. The program includes ash decontamination as a standing task after every eruption, and we carry pitot covers and inlet blankets for your tail numbers when the X-band radar detects an ash cloud. Catania is the busiest airport in Sicily, operated by SAC, with customs and full airport-of-entry facilities available.
What does the handler expect from a third-party detailing crew at LICC?
Handling agents at Catania will not permit a third-party crew airside without an escort unless that crew holds a long-term pass issued by SAC airport security. Terso maintains current airside passes for Fontanarossa, but the handler still expects forty-eight hours' notice before any scheduled service and a formal request—aircraft registration, service scope, stand number, estimated duration—routed through your flight-operations contact. If you book a slot without telling the handler that a detailing crew will be working, the handler may refuse access or charge an additional ramp fee.
Water use is controlled. Handlers supply potable water from a truck or hydrant cart; we cannot connect our own hose to a fixed hydrant without the handler's written permission, and that permission is not automatic. The Fleet Care Program includes a standing water-access agreement negotiated annually with the handling agents present at the airport, so your aircraft do not wait for approvals each visit. Waste-water disposal follows the same rule: we collect rinse run-off in drip trays and dispose of it in the handler's designated area, never across the apron.
How does the service calendar work around our flight schedule?
At the start of the twelve-month program, we build a calendar that assigns a service type to every month: quick exterior turns after each revenue leg, a full cabin deep-clean on the third week, a single-stage polish in April and October, brightwork restoration in March. You send us your quarterly flight schedule—or your operations team gives us read access to your scheduling software—and we slot each task into a window when the aircraft will be on the ground for at least four hours. If a charter moves or a positioning leg appears, we adjust the calendar and confirm the new window within two hours.
Priority crew allocation means your tail numbers come first. When three aircraft in the program all land at Fontanarossa on the same morning, we assign enough technicians to start all three services within thirty minutes of chocks-on. One-off transient requests wait. For AOG situations—bird strike, hydraulic leak, belly panel repair—we dispatch a crew immediately, even if it means pulling a technician off a scheduled task. The program contract includes four AOG callouts per tail number per year at no additional trip charge; beyond that, the standard AOG fee applies.
What happens during the quarterly appearance review?
Every three months, we sit down with your chief pilot, flight-department manager, or charter operations lead—whoever owns the appearance budget—and walk through the service history for each tail number. You receive a folder of before-and-after photos from every visit, a log of products used (so your OEM cabin-materials warranty remains valid), and a condition report that flags anything requiring attention: leading-edge chips, nacelle corrosion, galley-seal wear, lavatory-drain staining. If the report shows recurring damage—say, belt-buckle scratches on the same seat every month—we recommend a protective film or a procedural change.
The review also resets the calendar for the next quarter. If your summer charter season is busier than forecast and the aircraft cannot sit for a six-hour exterior polish, we move that task to September or split it across two shorter sessions. If a tail number leaves the fleet or a new aircraft joins, we adjust the monthly invoice and issue a revised contract amendment. The goal is to keep the program aligned with your operation, not the other way around.
Does the program cover all detailing work, or do we still pay for extras?
The fixed monthly budget covers the recurring tasks in the calendar: quick turns, monthly interiors, seasonal exteriors, and one brightwork restoration per year. It does not cover damage repair (paint touch-up, gel-coat fill, leather re-dye), deep decontamination beyond the standard ash wipe-down, or interior protection films. Those remain billable at the published rate, but program members receive a fifteen-percent discount and priority scheduling. If an extra task will push the monthly invoice above the fixed budget, we tell you before we start and wait for your approval.
Service history and photos are included at no charge. Every visit generates a digital report—date, stand, technician name, products used, before-and-after images, any squawks noted—stored in a shared folder your operations team can access anytime. At lease return or pre-purchase inspection, you hand the buyer or lessor a complete appearance record, which often satisfies the 'maintenance of exterior finish' clause without argument. We have seen that documentation save clients the cost of a pre-return polish more than once.
Questions operators ask about Fleet Care Program at Catania Fontanarossa
Can we pause the program if an aircraft goes into scheduled maintenance?
Yes; the monthly fee is prorated for any month the aircraft is off-site for more than two weeks. If a tail number enters heavy maintenance, avionics upgrade, or paint shop for more than fourteen consecutive days, we pause that aircraft's monthly fee and extend the twelve-month contract by the same number of months. You notify us when the aircraft leaves Catania, and we resume billing when it returns to service.
What if our handler changes during the program year?
We renegotiate airside access and water agreements with the new handler at no cost to you. Handler transitions happen; we manage the paperwork. Within forty-eight hours of your notice, we contact the new handling agent, arrange airside passes, confirm water access, and update our dispatch contact list. The service calendar continues without interruption.
Do you store our aircraft covers and pitot blankets, or do we carry them?
We store a full set of covers for each tail number in the program at no charge. Carrying covers in the baggage bay wastes payload. We keep engine inlet blankets, pitot covers, and a wing-cover set for each of your aircraft in our Catania secure store, labeled by registration. When ash is forecast or the aircraft will sit for more than three days, we install them as part of the post-flight service.
Can we add a fourth tail number mid-year if we acquire another aircraft?
Yes; we issue a contract amendment and prorate the monthly fee from the date the aircraft joins. New tail numbers are welcomed anytime. We build a service calendar for the incoming aircraft, add it to the priority crew list, and adjust your consolidated invoice. The twelve-month term for that aircraft starts on its first scheduled service, not on the original program start date.
How do you handle slot delays that shrink our turnaround window?
We reduce the service scope to fit the available time and reschedule the full task to the next visit. If a slot delay cuts a planned four-hour window to ninety minutes, we perform a quick exterior dry-wash and cabin tidy, then move the full interior deep-clean to the next day or the following visit. You never miss a slot because of a detailing service.
Does the program include de-icing, or is that separate?
De-icing is separate; Catania rarely requires it, and it is always billed per application. Sicily's coastal winter is mild—frost and ice are uncommon at 39 feet elevation. On the rare cold morning when Type I fluid is needed, we apply it and bill at the standard rate. Holdover-time monitoring and Type IV applications, if ever required, follow the same model.
What happens if we terminate the program before twelve months?
You may cancel with sixty days' notice; any prepaid months are refunded, minus completed services. We ask for sixty days' written notice. If you cancel in month seven, we refund months eight through twelve, subtract the value of any services already performed in month seven, and close the account. There is no early-termination penalty, but the fifteen-percent discount on extra tasks ends with the cancellation date.
Can the program cover aircraft that only visit Catania twice a month?
Yes, but we recommend it only if those visits are predictable and the aircraft overnights. The program works best for aircraft that spend at least eight days per month at Fontanarossa. If your tail visits twice a month but overnights each time, we can schedule a quick turn on arrival and a deeper clean on the overnight. Less frequent visits make the fixed monthly fee less economical than pay-per-service.
Do you coordinate directly with our pilots, or must everything go through operations?
We coordinate through one designated contact—usually operations—but pilots can request quick additions via phone. The program assigns one primary contact in your flight department who approves the calendar and any scope changes. Pilots may call us directly for quick requests—'can you wipe the windscreen before the next leg?'—and we'll do it if the aircraft is already on our list and the task takes under fifteen minutes. Anything longer requires operations approval.
Is volcanic ash decontamination always included, or only during eruptions?
Ash decontamination after an Etna eruption is included; routine ash dust between eruptions is covered in the quick turn. When Etna erupts and ash falls on the apron, we perform a full decontamination—static ports, seals, gear bays, control surfaces—as part of the program at no extra charge. Light ash dust that settles between eruptions is removed during the regular quick-turn wash.