Fleet Care Program at Leipzig/Halle (EDDP)

Why a fleet program rather than booking each visit separately?

A fleet program replaces the admin overhead of quoting, scheduling and invoicing every single turn with a fixed monthly rhythm. You tell us your typical rotation—where the aircraft overnights, when crew-changes happen, which days allow longer ground time—and we draft a service calendar that catches interiors during monthly down-days and exteriors during seasonal windows. Each tail number carries a fixed monthly budget, so finance sees one line per aircraft instead of a dozen ad-hoc invoices.

The operational advantage is crew allocation: your aircraft move to the front of the technician roster, and when an AOG request arrives—bird strike, lavatory spill, galley decon—we already hold your aircraft records, your OEM cabin materials list and an airside pass valid for your usual stand. Charter operators running short-notice positioning legs and corporate departments managing back-to-back trips both gain the same benefit: predictable appearance without the last-minute scramble to find a detailer who can meet the slot.

What changes at Leipzig/Halle that affects a fleet care calendar?

Leipzig/Halle sits at 470 feet elevation with two parallel 3,600-metre runways and operates around the clock as a cargo hub; the General Aviation Terminal—located in the central area of the airport—is staffed daily from 06:00 to 22:00 local, with after-hours access arranged through the traffic centre. Night-flight restrictions apply to commercial passenger traffic between 23:30 and 05:30 local, but cargo, home-carrier and air-taxi exceptions mean business-aviation movements continue outside those hours. Handling agents present at the airport manage fuel, GPU and de-icing orders through the GAT, and border police plus customs pre-notification for international flights.

For a fleet program this means three things. First, exterior wash and polish work happens during daylight GAT hours or under floodlight if the aircraft overnights on a remote stand and the handler approves night work. Second, the cargo tempo—up to 170 night movements—keeps apron traffic high, so we confirm stand assignment and escort requirements with your handler the day before every scheduled service. Third, Leipzig's continental climate swings from sub-zero winter mornings, when cold-soaked wings hold frost long after sunrise, to warm summers that bake belly dirt into the paint; the program calendar spaces exterior work to catch each aircraft before seasonal contamination sets in, rather than waiting for a visible problem.

How do you fit recurring work around a charter or corporate schedule?

We start the program by mapping your fleet's typical week: which aircraft fly daily shuttles, which sit idle weekends, which return from international legs on predictable evenings. Quick turns—gear-bay wipe-down, belly spot-clean, cabin vacuum and galley service—slot into any turnaround longer than ninety minutes, often while the handler refuels and the crew files the next leg. Monthly interior deep-cleans need four to six hours and usually happen during a scheduled down-day or when an aircraft returns late Friday and departs Monday morning.

Exterior wash and single-stage polish require six to eight hours and dry weather, so we propose two or three dates each quarter and you confirm whichever fits the flight schedule that month. If the aircraft departs early for an unplanned charter, we roll the exterior to the next available overnight. The program contract includes a quarterly appearance review—fifteen minutes with your operations team, either at the GAT or by video—where we compare the service history against the original calendar, adjust timing if your flying pattern has changed, and schedule any brightwork or paint-correction work before the next season.

What happens when an AOG appearance request comes in mid-program?

Priority AOG cover is written into every fleet program: if an aircraft lands at Leipzig/Halle with a lavatory leak, a galley-fridge spill, a bird-strike blood trail on the nose or leading edges, or a ramp fluid splash across the fuselage, you call the mobile number on your program card and we mobilise a technician. Because your aircraft is already in the program, we hold a copy of your tech log format, your cabin materials guide, photos of the original finish, and the handler contact who arranges our airside escort.

The AOG callout does not consume your monthly budget—it is billed separately at the standard AOG rate—but it jumps ahead of ad-hoc requests from non-program aircraft. If the damage is light (a localised belly stain, a single galley panel), we often complete the work during the same turnaround; if it is heavy (full decon after a fumes event, or a nacelle oil-streak that needs solvent and re-polish), we give you a time estimate within thirty minutes of seeing the aircraft, and your operations team decides whether to delay departure or defer the work to the next overnight. Either way, photos and a written summary go into your program service history within twenty-four hours.

Which aircraft and operators suit a twelve-month program at EDDP?

The fleet program works best for operators who see the same tail numbers at Leipzig/Halle at least twice a month: charter companies running regular contracts into Germany, corporate flight departments with a Leipzig base or frequent positioning legs through the airport, and FBOs managing multiple owner aircraft that overnight here between European trips. We accept super-midsize through ultra-long-range business jets and ACJ or BBJ airframes; light jets and turboprops join only when they belong to a larger fleet already in the program.

A single-aircraft operator flying ad-hoc legs will find individual bookings more economical, but the moment you add a second tail or a predictable weekly rotation, the program's fixed monthly budget and priority scheduling start to pay back. We have run programs for three-aircraft charter fleets, for a corporate department with two Globals transiting Leipzig twice weekly, and for an FBO managing five owner aircraft that winter in Germany and need monthly interiors plus pre-spring exterior correction before they return to the Mediterranean.

How does the program handle seasonal exterior work and brightwork?

The twelve-month calendar divides exterior work into maintenance washes—every four to six weeks, depending on flying hours and routes—and seasonal correction sessions that tackle oxidation, bellies, nacelles and brightwork before contamination becomes paint damage. Winter exteriors at Leipzig/Halle focus on de-icing fluid residue, belly road-film from snow-affected runways, and leading-edge bug strikes that freeze onto the paint; we schedule these as dry-wash or rinseless turns to avoid water freezing in hinges and static ports when the apron temperature drops below five degrees.

Spring and autumn are full-exterior windows: wash, clay, single-stage polish, and a hydrophobic sealant that holds for four months. Brightwork—nacelle lips, windscreen surrounds, the cheat line if it is polished metal—gets individual attention twice a year, timed so the aircraft enters summer and winter with restored gloss. If your fleet flies through North Africa or the Middle East, we add a post-summer decon session to remove desert dust and insect proteins before they etch the clearcoat. Each session is pre-scheduled in the program calendar, but the exact date flexes within a two-week window so we catch the aircraft when it is on the ground and the weather allows safe outdoor work.