Fleet Care Program at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry (LFLL)

What does a twelve-month program look like at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry?

We start by mapping your flight schedule—rotation patterns, seasonal peaks, overnight positioning—and then fit appearance work into the gaps. Quick turns happen between legs: dry wash, cabin tidy, brightwork touch-up, gear-bay wipe-down. Monthly interior visits are scheduled during longer ground times, usually overnight or when the aircraft sits for a day between charters. Seasonal exterior work—decon, single-stage polish, leading-edge treatment—is timed to the start of winter or the end of pollen season, whenever the paint needs it most.

Each tail number carries a fixed monthly budget, so finance knows what to expect. You receive service history and photos after every visit, which makes pre-purchase inspections and lease returns straightforward. A quarterly appearance review—usually a call or a ramp walk with your operations team—keeps the program aligned with your actual flying. If an AOG request comes in, your fleet goes to the front of the queue; priority crew allocation means we hold capacity for your aircraft even during busy slots.

What changes at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry for appearance work?

Lyon-Saint-Exupéry sits at 821 feet elevation, twenty kilometres east of the city centre. The airport operates around the clock, though schedule-facilitation applies to all IFR traffic between 06:00 and 22:59 local; that window usually covers your turnaround slots. Two parallel runways—4,000 metres and 2,670 metres—handle everything from regional turboprops to widebody freighters, so stand allocation depends on handler coordination and your MTOW. Handling agents present at the airport will expect advance notice if a third-party crew is working airside; we carry our own escort and tooling, but the handler remains responsible for the stand and any GPU or air-start requirements.

Lyon's continental climate brings cold-soaked wings in winter and high summer temperatures that bake cabin plastics and degrade hydrophobic coatings. Spring pollen from the Rhône valley sticks to leading edges and nacelles; autumn humidity accelerates brightwork oxidation. A fleet program lets us schedule decon and polish ahead of these cycles rather than reacting to them. Lyon also has a second airport—Lyon-Bron, LFLY—dedicated entirely to business aviation, where hangars and long-term storage are concentrated; Saint-Exupéry is the choice for operators who need airliner-scale infrastructure and twenty-four-hour access.

How does the program handle unscheduled requests and AOG turns?

Priority access is written into the contract. If your aircraft goes AOG for an appearance issue—hydraulic fluid on the belly, a bird strike on the nose, lavatory service staining on the fuselage—we mobilise within two hours during the day and four hours overnight. Fleet aircraft jump the queue ahead of ad-hoc bookings; we hold crew capacity and consumable stock specifically for program members.

Unscheduled quick turns are common: a charter client requests a cabin refresh before the return leg, or a positioning flight arrives with runway rubber on the nacelles. Because we already know your aircraft—cabin materials, OEM brightwork finishes, cheat-line masking—setup time is shorter and the risk of damage from unfamiliar crew is eliminated. Every unscheduled visit is logged in the same service history as the planned work, so your tech log and appearance records stay coherent. If an AOG request falls outside the monthly budget, we clear the cost before we start; no surprise invoicing.

Why does a fleet program make sense for operators at Lyon?

Recurring aircraft create recurring problems: the same cabin scuff marks appear after every long leg, the same leading-edge bugs accumulate on the same routes, the same brightwork dulls at the same rate. A fleet program anticipates these patterns instead of reacting to them. Monthly interior visits catch wear before it becomes damage; seasonal exterior work prevents oxidation rather than correcting it. The result is lower total cost and higher dispatch reliability—your aircraft spends less time on the ground for appearance fixes and more time generating revenue.

For charter operators, the program smooths invoicing and simplifies cost recovery: you know the monthly appearance cost per tail, so you can build it into charter quotes or management fees. Corporate flight departments get predictable budgets and a single point of contact, which matters when you're coordinating with handlers, caterers and slot coordinators. FBOs with managed fleets can offer the program as part of their service package, differentiating themselves from competitors who only arrange ad-hoc cleaning. At Lyon, where both scheduled airlines and business aviation share the same infrastructure, advance planning and handler coordination are the difference between a smooth turnaround and a missed slot.

What happens during a quarterly appearance review?

Every three months we sit down—usually by video call, sometimes as a ramp walk if your team is at Lyon—and compare the service calendar against what actually happened. Did the monthly interior visits align with your rotation, or do we need to shift them? Is the seasonal exterior work catching the right weather windows, or should we move the decon forward by a fortnight? Are there new routes that bring different contaminants—salt spray from coastal legs, volcanic ash from southern Europe, de-icing fluid from Alpine airports—that need specific treatment?

We review photos and service history from every visit, highlight any recurring issues—stubborn belly staining, nacelle leading-edge chips, gear-bay hydraulic seepage—and recommend adjustments to the program. If your fleet has grown or your schedule has changed, we recalculate crew allocation and adjust the monthly budget. The review also covers compliance: any updates to OEM cabin-material guidance, changes to airport water-use rules, new handler requirements for third-party airside access. It's a working session, not a sales pitch; the goal is to keep the program useful as your operation evolves.

How do we coordinate with handlers and manage airside access at Lyon?

Handling agents present at the airport are notified at least twenty-four hours before a scheduled visit; for AOG requests, we coordinate in real time. We carry our own airside passes and provide escort for any crew members who need it, but the handler remains responsible for stand safety, GPU hookup and any fuelling or towing that overlaps with our work. Most handlers at Lyon are accustomed to third-party appearance crews; the key is clarity about who does what and when.

We avoid working near pitot tubes, static ports and no-touch avionics panels without explicit sign-off from your maintenance team. If a quick turn overlaps with refuelling, we stay clear of the wings until the bowser disconnects. Gear-bay work and belly decon happen only when the aircraft is chocked and the handler confirms no ground-power or air-start activity is planned. After every visit, we log the work in your aircraft's service history and send photos to both your operations team and the handler, so everyone has the same record. At a busy airport like Lyon, where stand times are measured in minutes and slots are tightly coordinated, this level of planning is not optional—it's what keeps your aircraft moving.