Fleet Care Program at Chambéry Savoie Mont Blanc (LFLB)
Twelve-month appearance plans for charter and corporate fleets working the Alpine season
The Fleet Care Program at Chambéry Savoie Mont Blanc is a twelve-month detailing contract for charter operators, corporate flight departments and FBOs with aircraft recurring into LFLB through the winter season and beyond. Rather than booking each visit separately, you build a service calendar around your flight schedule—quick turns between legs, monthly cabin work, seasonal exterior washes and brightwork—with a fixed monthly budget per tail, one invoice, and priority crew allocation including 24/7 AOG cover. Every visit is logged with photos; quarterly reviews keep the program aligned with your operations tempo.
18/36 · 2020 m, 18L/36R (grass) · 700 m
AIP and airport data779 ft
Not H24. AIP: ATS 0700-2000 UTC (Saturdays in the winter facilitation period 0600-2000 UTC), handling on request with 48 h prior notice to SEACA, customs on PPR with 24 h prior notice. Business aviation terminal (FBO): winter season 1 Dec-30 Apr daily 07:30-21:00 local (tower 08:00-21:00 local); low season 1 May-30 Nov Mon-Fri 08:30-18:30 and Sat/Sun/holidays 09:00-18:00 local, extensions on request with 24 h notice
No published night curfew, but the airport is closed outside ATS hours (0700-2000 UTC per AIP; FBO closes 21:00 local in winter, 18:30/18:00 local in low season)6.5 km
Aix-les-Bains (AIP: 3.5 NM SSW of Aix-les-Bains and 4.5 NM NNW of Chambéry)1 on the airport
independent, no affiliationDedicated business aviation terminal ('Business Terminal') separate from the commercial passenger terminal, with its own published opening hours
Why does a recurring contract make sense at an Alpine seasonal airport?
Chambéry is France's third-busiest business aviation airport in winter, the gateway to Courchevel, Chamonix and Val d'Isère. The FBO runs daily from 1 December to 30 April, 07:30–21:00 local, then drops to weekday hours and weekend closures from 1 May to 30 November. Charter operators and corporate departments working the ski season fly the same tails into LFLB every week—sometimes twice a week—and the aircraft spend more time on the stand than in a hangar, because there is no hangar space for visiting aircraft.
A Fleet Care Program locks in crew allocation and apron access for the entire season. You tell us which tail numbers are in the rotation, we build the service calendar around your block times, and every visit—whether it's a ten-minute dry wash between legs or a full interior detail overnight—goes into the same monthly invoice. When the low season arrives and your schedule thins, the program continues at reduced frequency, so the aircraft stay in condition year-round and you avoid the pre-season scramble in November.
What changes at Chambéry Savoie Mont Blanc that affects detailing logistics?
LFLB sits at 779 feet elevation, 6.5 kilometres from Aix-les-Bains, with a 2,020-metre main runway (18/36) and a 700-metre grass strip. ATS hours are 0700–2000 UTC (Saturdays in winter open an hour earlier, 0600 UTC); the business aviation terminal, run by VINCI Airports handling (SEACA), opens 07:30–21:00 local in winter and 08:30–18:30 weekdays in low season, with weekend hours shortened to 09:00–18:00. Handling is requested through the MyHandling portal; customs attends only on PPR with 24 hours' notice.
The airport is Level 2 schedules-facilitated in winter: you must request a slot via MyHandling, which returns a COHOR authorisation number for field 18 of the flight plan. Arrivals are capped at five per hour on winter weekends, and overnight parking Friday to Sunday is limited. That slot discipline means we know your arrival time days in advance, so crew and kit are on the apron when you shut down. All detailing happens outdoors—no hangar, per the AIP—so we work around weather, tower hours and your next departure slot. A twelve-month program smooths the peaks: we spread cabin work and brightwork across the quieter weekdays, leaving quick turns for the weekend rush.
How does the service calendar fit around a charter or corporate flight schedule?
You send us your forward schedule—block times, overnight stops, positioning legs—and we draft a service calendar that assigns the right level of work to each visit. A Saturday turnaround with a two-hour slot gets a rinseless wash and a cabin tidy; a Tuesday overnight becomes a full interior detail and galley decon; the end-of-month gap, when the aircraft overnights twice, is when we polish the nacelles and treat the brightwork. The calendar lives in a shared document; your ops team and ours see the same version, and any change to the flight schedule triggers an automatic update to the detailing plan.
Priority crew allocation means the same two or three technicians work your tails all season. They learn the aircraft—which cabin materials need what chemistry, where the cheat line collects spray, how the galley drains—so every visit is faster and nothing is missed. When an AOG or a schedule change lands outside the calendar, the program gives you 24/7 access: one call, crew dispatched, no negotiation over availability or price, because the monthly budget already covers the flex.
What does the handler expect when a third-party detailing crew works airside at LFLB?
VINCI handling at Chambéry runs a tight apron, especially in winter when the stand is crowded and slots are coordinated. Before the season starts, we file our company details, insurance, and the names and passport copies of every technician who will cross airside; the handler issues long-term passes valid for the winter period, so there is no delay at the gate on the day. We confirm each visit through the MyHandling portal—tail number, stand, arrival time, scope of work, estimated duration—and the handler notes it in the daily ramp plan.
On the ramp, the handler expects us to stay within the stand markings, keep hoses and kit clear of taxiways, and finish before the next movement or before the FBO closes (21:00 local in winter, earlier in low season). If we need GPU or a tow, we request it through handling, not directly from the tug driver. When the work is done, we log out through the business terminal and leave a paper or digital cheat sheet in the cockpit: what was cleaned, what products touched what surfaces, when the next service is due. The handler copies that into the daily ops summary, so your crew and ours have the same record.
How does documentation and the photo report work across a twelve-month program?
Every visit generates a service record: date, tail number, stand, work scope, products used, technician names, start and finish times. We photograph the aircraft before we touch it—wide shots of both sides, close-ups of any existing marks or wear—then again after the work, focusing on the areas we treated: leading edges, belly, gear bays, winglets, nacelles, windscreen. The photos go into a cloud folder organised by tail number and date; you receive a link at the end of each month, so your chief pilot or flight-department manager can review the entire season in one sitting.
The quarterly appearance review is a sit-down—virtual or in person—where we walk through the service history, flag any trends (one tail consistently picks up more belly staining, another needs brightwork more often), and adjust the calendar for the next quarter. If you are adding a tail to the fleet or dropping one, we revise the monthly budget and the crew allocation. The whole point of the program is that the documentation is automatic: you never chase a report, and we never ask twice for your schedule.
What does the fixed monthly budget cover, and what sits outside the program?
The monthly fee per tail covers the service calendar as agreed: quick turns, scheduled interiors, seasonal exteriors, brightwork treatment, and all products and labour for those visits. It includes priority crew allocation, 24/7 AOG cover (dispatch within four hours, work billed at program rates), the photo reports, and the quarterly reviews. One invoice per month, regardless of how many visits actually happened; if the aircraft flew less than planned, the budget does not change, because the crew availability and the slot in the calendar were reserved.
Outside the program: major paint correction or compounding beyond single-stage polish; full decon after a biological or chemical event; work on an aircraft not listed in the contract; and any materials not stocked as consumables (speciality sealants, OEM-specific cabin products ordered on request). If a scope change is big enough—say, you want to add a monthly engine-bay detail to every tail—we re-price the program at the next quarterly review. The goal is no surprises: you know in January what you will pay in December, and we know we have the crew and the calendar space to deliver it.
Questions operators ask about Fleet Care Program at Chambéry Savoie Mont Blanc
Can the Fleet Care Program start mid-season, or does it have to begin in December?
It can start any month; we pro-rate the first period and build the calendar from your current schedule forward. The program runs twelve months from signature, so if you sign in February we build the calendar for February through January and invoice monthly from there. The first month is often partial—pro-rated to cover the visits from signature to month-end—then it normalises. Starting mid-season is common for operators who tried one-off bookings in December, found the slot coordination and apron logistics too manual, and want the rest of the winter on a fixed plan.
Does the program require a minimum number of tails or a minimum frequency of visits?
Two tails minimum, each visiting LFLB at least twice a month on average across the year. The economics work when the crew allocation and the calendar overhead are spread across recurring visits. One tail visiting once a month is better served by on-demand bookings; two tails each doing eight visits a month in winter and two in summer make the program efficient for both sides. If your operation is seasonal—heavy December to April, quiet May to November—we adjust the service frequency and the monthly budget by quarter, so you are not paying for capacity you do not use.
What happens if a flight cancels or the schedule changes the day before a planned service?
We move the service to the next available visit in the calendar; the monthly budget does not change. The calendar is a plan, not a contract to perform work on a fixed date. If the aircraft does not arrive, we mark that visit as postponed and roll the scope—say, a cabin detail—into the next overnight stop. The monthly fee covers the crew availability and the total annual scope, so one missed visit does not trigger a credit or a rebooking fee. If the cancellations become a pattern and the aircraft is flying far less than the calendar assumed, we discuss it at the quarterly review and adjust the budget downward for the remaining months.
Can we add an unscheduled interior or exterior service between the planned visits?
Yes, any additional work is dispatched under the 24/7 AOG cover and billed at program rates, added to the monthly invoice. The AOG provision is not just for emergencies; it is priority access for anything outside the calendar. You call or message, we confirm crew availability and a time, the work is done, and the cost—labour at program rates, products at cost—appears as a line item on that month's invoice. Because the crew already knows your tails and the handler already has our details on file, the turnaround is faster than calling a new vendor.
Does the program cover multiple airports, or is it specific to Chambéry?
This program is LFLB-specific; we offer similar fleet contracts at other European bases where we have permanent crew. The Fleet Care Program at Chambéry is built around the seasonal rhythm, the slot coordination, and the fact that there is no hangar, so recurring outdoor detailing makes sense. If your fleet also operates regularly into Geneva, Annecy or another Alpine airport, we can design a multi-base program with one consolidated invoice, but each base has its own crew allocation and calendar. The pricing reflects the logistics: Chambéry in winter is dense and predictable; a base with sporadic visits costs more per visit because the crew cannot be dedicated.
How does customs PPR at LFLB affect the detailing schedule?
Customs requires 24 hours' notice via MyHandling; we align our arrival on the apron with your slot and the handler's confirmation. Every flight into or out of France files passenger and crew details 24 hours before arrival through the MyHandling portal; customs officers attend at the business terminal. That filing discipline means we know your arrival time and stand assignment a day in advance, so there is no guesswork about when to dispatch the crew. If customs delays your release from the terminal, the handler notifies us and we adjust the start time; the program budget includes that flex, so you are not charged for crew waiting time within reason.
What happens to the program in the low season when FBO hours are reduced?
We reduce service frequency to match your flying tempo and the FBO's weekday-only hours; the monthly budget adjusts accordingly. From 1 May to 30 November the business terminal operates 08:30–18:30 weekdays and 09:00–18:00 weekends, and most charter operators scale back or move aircraft to other bases. The program continues at a lower frequency—perhaps one visit per tail per month instead of four—and the monthly invoice drops to reflect the reduced scope. The advantage is continuity: the same crew, the same documentation, the same priority access, so when the winter season returns in December the aircraft are already in condition and the calendar is ready.
Can the program include scheduled brightwork and polish, or is it limited to cleaning?
It includes seasonal brightwork treatment and single-stage polish; anything deeper is scoped separately and added to the program if recurring. The standard calendar builds in brightwork maintenance—nacelle rings, door handles, trim strips—once per quarter or once per season, depending on the aircraft's exposure and your preference. Single-stage polish for nacelles and leading edges can be monthly or seasonal. If you want a full compound-and-polish cycle twice a year, we price that as an add-on and schedule it during the longer overnight gaps. The goal is to keep the aircraft in the same condition year-round, not to deliver a major correction every visit.
Who owns the service history and photo archive at the end of the twelve months?
You do; we transfer the entire archive—logs, photos, reports—at the end of the contract term. The cloud folder with all service records and photos is shared with your ops team throughout the year, so you always have access. At the end of twelve months, we export the archive as a ZIP file and send you a download link; you can store it in your own flight-department records or hand it to the next operator if the aircraft is sold. If you renew the program, the archive continues to grow in the same folder, so you have an unbroken appearance history for as long as the tail is in service.
What is the notice period to cancel or pause the Fleet Care Program?
Sixty days' written notice; any services delivered in the notice period are invoiced at program rates, then the contract closes. If you need to end the program—aircraft sold, base moved, operation scaled down—you give sixty days' notice in writing. We continue to deliver scheduled services during those sixty days at the agreed monthly rate; if the aircraft stops flying before the sixty days expire, you can pause the calendar and pay only for visits actually performed, at program rates. There is no penalty for cancellation, but we cannot re-allocate the crew or the calendar space instantly, hence the sixty-day window. Most programs renew annually; the few that do not end because the fleet composition changed, not because the service failed.