Ceramic Coating at Annecy Mont Blanc (LFLP)

What changes at Annecy Mont Blanc?

The field has two runways: the paved 04/22 at 1,598 metres and a shorter grass strip. Winter operating hours run 08:00 to 19:00 local seven days a week, with the control tower open 09:00 to 19:00; every stage of a ceramic job—wash, correction, coating, cure—has to fit inside that daytime envelope. VINCI Airports operates the business-aviation terminal and handles ramp coordination; we liaise with them for hangar access, GPU, and airside escort.

Elevation and alpine weather mean paint faces sharper UV swings and more frequent de-icing cycles than at sea-level fields. Ceramic layers slow oxidation and make Type I fluid easier to rinse. The airport is not slot-coordinated—COHOR lists it as Level 2, schedules facilitated—so there is flexibility for multi-day bookings, but the short winter day compresses each work session. We schedule correction and first-coat application early in the booking to leave full cure time before departure.

Why ceramic protection matters in alpine operations?

Mountain sun at altitude accelerates clear-coat breakdown; every season without protection costs gloss and adds hours to the next correction. De-icing fluid—especially Type IV—leaves a film that traps dirt and starts the oxidation cycle again. A two-layer ceramic system fills the microscopic valleys in corrected paint, presenting a harder, smoother surface that sheds fluid and road salt rather than absorbing them.

Between washes the aircraft stays cleaner. Dust and exhaust settle on top of the coating instead of bonding to the paint, so a rinseless wash or dry-wash takes half the time. Brightwork—nacelle lips, leading edges—gets the same treatment: we polish to remove existing corrosion, then seal with ceramic. The result is two to three years of easier maintenance and slower degradation, documented in the warranty plan we hand over with the aircraft.

What happens during the three to six days?

Day one is decontamination: clay bar, iron remover, and a solvent wipe to pull embedded contaminants out of the paint. Day two is correction—wet-sanding any deep scratches, then machine polishing to remove swirls and restore gloss. We measure paint depth with a gauge before and after; if the clear coat is too thin we note the panel and adjust technique.

Days three and four are coating application. The first ceramic layer goes on in a climate-controlled hangar—humidity and temperature matter for bond strength—and cures under infrared lamps for twelve hours. The second layer follows the same sequence. Brightwork and windows receive their own formula; windscreens get a hydrophobic treatment that improves visibility in rain and makes ice easier to clear.

The final day is quality inspection and documentation. We photograph each zone under calibrated lighting, record coating thickness, and write the maintenance interval into the warranty document. The aircraft is released with a care sheet: what products to avoid, how to rinse after de-icing, when to return for the first maintenance wash.

How we work with the handler and the winter schedule?

VINCI Airports coordinates hangar access and apron movements; we request the booking through the FBO at fbo@annecy-airport.com and confirm GPU availability for the full duration. The handler expects a detailed work plan—arrival time, tow schedule, waste-water disposal—before we step airside. All our crew hold French airside passes or are escorted throughout.

Winter daylight is the binding constraint. Correction and coating need stable light, so we start each session at first allowable access and finish before the tower closes at 19:00. If weather forces a delay—heavy snow, freezing fog—we push the schedule back a day rather than rush the cure. The aircraft stays on GPU in the hangar; we do not interrupt avionics or cabin systems, and pitot covers stay on until final inspection.

What about recurring work versus one-off protection?

Operators based at Annecy or returning every season treat ceramic as a two-year cycle: apply after a repaint or a complete detail, maintain with pH-neutral washes, then re-apply when water stops beading. That pattern cuts long-term labour cost and keeps the aircraft consistently presentable for owner trips or charter.

One-off customers—often positioning through the Alps for ski season—use ceramic as insurance before a string of cold-weather legs. The coating buys cleaner de-icing, faster turnarounds at mountain airports, and less paint damage over three months of hard use. Either way the process is identical; the difference is whether the warranty maintenance comes back to us or travels with the aircraft to another provider.

Documentation, photos, and the warranty plan

Every ceramic job closes with a digital report: high-resolution photos of each surface under cross-polarised light to show correction quality, a log of paint depths by panel, the batch numbers of the ceramic products, and the cure-time record. The warranty document specifies the maintenance interval—usually six months or fifty flight hours—and lists approved wash chemicals. If the operator follows the plan, the coating is guaranteed for two years; if a panel fails early we return to inspect and, if the failure is ours, re-coat at no charge.

The photo set also serves as a baseline for the next detail. When the aircraft comes back in two years we compare gloss readings and contamination levels against the original numbers, adjust the correction if needed, and reset the warranty clock. That continuity—same crew, same standards, same documentation—makes each subsequent job faster and more predictable.