Cabin Disinfection at Chambéry Savoie Mont Blanc (LFLB)

What changes at Chambéry Savoie Mont Blanc?

Chambéry sits at 779 feet elevation, six and a half kilometres from Aix-les-Bains, with a single paved runway—18/36, 2,020 metres—and a parallel 700-metre grass strip. The airport is not H24: ATS runs 0700–2000 UTC (0600–2000 on winter Saturdays), and the dedicated business aviation terminal keeps longer hours in season—daily 07:30–21:00 local from 1 December to 30 April, then drops to 08:30–18:30 weekdays and 09:00–18:00 weekends from 1 May to 30 November. Handling is requested through the MyHandling portal, and customs attends only on PPR with twenty-four hours' notice.

The airport is Level 2 slot-coordinated during winter, capping arrivals at five per hour on busy weekends and limiting overnight parking Friday to Sunday. Every operator files for a COHOR authorisation number and adds it to field 18. There is no hangarage for visiting aircraft, so any cabin work takes place outside on the stand, exposed to Alpine weather. We schedule disinfection inside your slot window, mindful that delays ripple through a constrained apron and that the FBO closes at 21:00 local in winter, earlier in the low season.

Why disinfect the cabin after a ski-season charter?

A Courchevel shuttle or a weekend series to Val d'Isère fills seats, tracks in snow melt and leaves galley and lavatory surfaces well-used. Pathogens survive on armrests, tray tables and door handles for hours; in a pressurised tube recirculating air, one unwell passenger can seed the next leg. Disinfection breaks that chain. We wipe every switch, latch and gasper with aviation-approved biocides, fog or spray the air path and neutralise residual odours—cigar smoke, wet ski gear, catering—so the cabin smells and feels reset.

Charter operators value the certificate of treatment: it reassures the next client, satisfies your SMS and provides a timestamp if a post-flight health query arises. For managed fleets moving through Chambéry all season, standing disinfection after every revenue leg becomes a hygiene baseline rather than a reaction to a problem. The process takes one to two hours, fits neatly into a refuel-and-reposition turnaround and costs far less than an AOG driven by crew or passenger illness.

How does outdoor disinfection work in an Alpine winter?

With no hangar, we treat the aircraft on the apron. December through February temperatures at 779 feet regularly sit below freezing overnight and climb only a few degrees by midday; snow, freezing fog and wind are routine. Aviation disinfectants remain effective across a wide temperature range, but application changes: we pre-warm concentrate if needed, work in sections to prevent runoff from freezing on cabin floors and time the treatment so ventilation—doors open, APU or GPU running the packs—happens during the warmest part of the turnaround window.

Odour-neutralising aerosols and air-path fogging require the cabin to be closed for fifteen to thirty minutes after application. If your slot is tight or weather turns, we'll prioritise high-touch hard surfaces first—seats, galley, lavatory—then complete the air treatment if the schedule allows. The business-aviation terminal and handling agents present at the airport co-ordinate GPU and airside escort; we carry our own lighting for early-morning or late-afternoon slots when daylight fades. Every disinfection includes a walkaround photo log so you see exactly what was treated, even if you've already departed for the next leg.

Which surfaces and systems do you treat?

We follow a checklist that mirrors post-charter and pre-delivery protocols: every seat—leather, Alcantara, fabric—receives a wipe-down of armrests, headrests, seat-back pockets, tray tables and IFE screens. We treat all cabin switches, window shades, door handles, galley counters, refrigerator latches, lavatory taps, flush buttons and waste-flap seals. Air vents, gaspers and return grilles are wiped or sprayed to address the recirculation path. We do not disassemble ducting or touch avionics bays, static ports or pitot covers; that remains maintenance territory.

Odour removal uses a two-stage approach: enzyme-based neutralisers for organic smells—galley waste, lavatory, wet upholstery—and an ozone or hydroxyl generator for smoke. If the previous charter included cigar enthusiasts, we'll fog the cabin and let it dwell while the aircraft is on GPU, then ventilate before your next passengers board. The certificate lists every zone treated, the product batch numbers and the technician's signature. It travels with the tech log or gets emailed as a PDF; either way, you have an auditable record that satisfies both your SMS and any client who asks.

How do slot limits and curfew affect scheduling?

Chambéry's winter weekend cap—five arrivals per hour, limited overnight parking Friday to Sunday—means your slot is both precious and immovable. If you land at 14:00 and depart at 16:30, disinfection must start the moment refuelling finishes and end before final catering loads. We ask for your ETA, turnaround window and next PPR slot when you book; our team is airside before you chock, so there's no waiting for an escort or a phone call to the handler.

The airport is not H24: ATS closes at 2000 UTC (2100 local in winter, earlier in summer), and the FBO shuts at 21:00 local in high season, 18:30 or 18:00 in low season. A late inbound that pushes toward those limits leaves little room for disinfection unless you plan to night-stop. In that case we treat the cabin in the evening, lock it overnight and hand you the certificate at morning departure. Customs PPR—twenty-four hours' notice for every Schengen and non-Schengen movement—adds another layer: if passenger lists arrive late, your slot can slip, compressing the window for any non-essential service. We stay flexible, but the tighter the schedule, the earlier we need confirmation.

What documentation and reporting do you provide?

Every disinfection closes with a certificate that lists the aircraft registration, date, arrival and treatment times, products used (trade name and batch), surfaces treated and the technician's name. A second document—our photo report—shows before and during images: cabin overview, galley detail, lavatory, air vents and any staining or residue we encountered. If we found something noteworthy—a broken latch, a stained armrest that needs deeper cleaning, a persistent odour source—we note it in the remarks field and photograph it so you can task maintenance or schedule a full detail later.

The certificate satisfies most SMS hygiene requirements and reassures charter clients who ask whether the cabin was sanitised between legs. The photo report proves we were thorough and provides a timestamp if a health authority ever queries an exposure window. Both documents are emailed within two hours of treatment; if you prefer paper copies for the tech log, we'll print and hand them to the handling agent or leave them in the cockpit. For fleet operators running a weekly Chambéry rotation all season, we can consolidate reports into a monthly summary with treatment dates, product consumption and any trends—useful for your annual audit or when negotiating your next SMS review.