Fleet Care Program at Lyon-Bron (LFLY)

Why commit to a twelve-month program at Lyon-Bron?

A fleet program eliminates the friction of transactional scheduling. When your aircraft return to LFLY on a predictable rhythm—weekly shuttles, monthly positioning legs, seasonal crew changes—the appearance work becomes part of the turnaround rather than a separate project. We hold crew slots for your tail numbers, pre-position materials, and keep service records that travel with the airframe.

The fixed monthly budget per tail smooths cash flow and removes the surprise of ad-hoc invoicing. You know in January what December will cost. For charter operators running tight slot windows or corporate departments managing board travel, that predictability matters as much as the polish itself. The program includes priority allocation during AOG events: if a bird strike or decon emergency pulls an aircraft off the schedule, your fleet status moves you ahead of one-off requests.

Quarterly reviews give your operations team visibility into paint condition, cabin wear patterns, and upcoming seasonal needs—winter decon, summer UV exposure—so maintenance planning aligns with appearance planning. It is a partnership posture rather than a vendor transaction.

What changes at Lyon-Bron compared with other French business-aviation airports?

Lyon-Bron sits at 659 feet elevation, ten kilometres east of Lyon city centre, and has been 100 per cent dedicated to business and general aviation since commercial traffic moved to Saint-Exupéry in 1975. It is now the third business-aviation airport in France by movement count. The single runway—16/34, 1820 metres—handles everything from light jets to ultra-long-range types, and the apron mix is exclusively business jets and turboprops. Handling is provided by Aéroports de Lyon through the Lyon-Bron business aviation terminal, an airport-operated service rather than a chain FBO.

Because the airport is not slot-coordinated and carries no commercial curfew pressure, turnaround windows are more flexible than at the major international fields. That flexibility allows us to schedule exterior washes at first light when temperatures are cool and water evaporation is slow, or to begin a cabin detail immediately after a late arrival without waiting for a daytime slot. The absence of airline ground traffic also means fewer apron restrictions: we can position our equipment close to the stand, run hoses without crossing active taxiways, and complete a rinseless wash or dry-wash cycle without competing for GPU access or handler attention.

The continental climate brings cold winters and warm summers. Winter decon for Type I and Type IV holdover-time fluid becomes a monthly task for based fleets; summer requires more frequent exterior maintenance as UV exposure and insect strikes accumulate between legs. A fleet program anticipates these seasonal shifts and adjusts the calendar accordingly.

How does the service calendar integrate with flight operations?

We build the calendar in concert with your operations team during the program kick-off. You provide us with your typical flight pattern—departure days, turnaround intervals, overnight windows, seasonal peaks—and we map quick turns, interior details, and exterior washes onto that rhythm. The calendar is not rigid: if a charter leg moves or a positioning flight is cancelled, we adjust within the same billing period.

Quick turns happen during short ground stops: a dry wash of the fuselage, brightwork wipe-down, cabin vacuum and galley wipe, lavatory service. Monthly interiors are scheduled during longer overnight periods or maintenance windows: deep vacuum, leather conditioning, carpet extraction if needed, galley and lavatory deep clean, window and monument polish. Seasonal exteriors—rinseless wash, single-stage polish, leading-edge and nacelle attention—are timed to coincide with longer down periods or crew-change gaps.

Every visit generates a service record and photographs, filed in your program folder and shared via your preferred method—email, shared drive, or integrated into your tech-log workflow. If a paint chip or cabin stain is noted, we photograph it, document the location, and flag it in the quarterly review. That documentation becomes useful during pre-purchase inspections, lease returns, or OEM warranty claims.

What does priority AOG cover mean in practice?

An AOG event disrupts the normal sequence: a bird strike requires an immediate fuselage inspection and decon; a hydraulic leak leaves belly staining that must be cleaned before the next leg; a catering spill in the cabin needs extraction before passengers board. Fleet program aircraft receive priority crew allocation and expedited access to our equipment and materials.

We do not bump scheduled one-off clients without notice, but we do hold reserve capacity within each day specifically for program AOG requests. If your aircraft goes AOG at Lyon-Bron, you call a single contact number—staffed 24/7—and we mobilise. If the issue occurs at another field within our European network and you need the aircraft repositioned to LFLY for appearance work, the program status ensures we are ready when the aircraft arrives.

Priority does not mean instantaneous—airside-pass escort, handler coordination, and GPU availability still govern the timeline—but it does mean your aircraft is not waiting behind transactional requests. For charter operators, that difference can be the margin between meeting a slot at the destination or paying re-positioning costs.

How is the fixed monthly budget calculated and what does it include?

The budget is built per tail number and reflects the agreed service calendar: number of quick turns, frequency of interior details, seasonal exterior cycles, and any standing requests such as brightwork maintenance or gear-bay cleaning. We estimate the annual workload, divide by twelve, and invoice monthly regardless of whether a particular aircraft flew more or fewer legs that month. Over the year, the variance evens out.

Included within the fixed budget: labour, materials (cleaning agents, polishes, microfibre, water), service documentation, quarterly review meetings, and priority AOG allocation. Not included: major paint correction beyond single-stage polish, structural repairs, OEM-required specialist treatments, or work requested outside the agreed calendar that exceeds the normal scope—those are quoted separately and billed as addenda to the monthly invoice.

If your fleet grows or an aircraft is sold mid-program, we adjust the contract on a pro-rata basis. If flight patterns change significantly—a seasonal charter peak doubles turnaround frequency—we discuss a calendar amendment during the quarterly review. The goal is budget predictability without rigidity.

What happens during the quarterly appearance review?

Every three months, we meet with your operations team—in person at Lyon-Bron, by video, or at your home base if scheduling allows—and walk through the service history for each tail. We present photographs from every visit, highlight any recurring issues (paint chips along the cheat line, cabin wear near the galley, nacelle staining from exhaust), and discuss upcoming seasonal needs.

The review is also the moment to adjust the calendar. If winter decon proved more intensive than forecast, we increase the frequency. If a particular aircraft is flying less and does not need monthly interiors, we shift resource to another tail. If you are planning a lease return or pre-purchase inspection, we schedule a full exterior polish and cabin detail to align with the surveyor's visit.

These reviews keep the program responsive rather than formulaic. They also give your team a structured opportunity to raise concerns—a new cabin material that requires different treatment, a handler change that affects apron access, a upcoming MTOW increase that changes the aircraft's profile. We treat the program as a rolling conversation, not a static contract.