Ceramic Coating at Bari Karol Wojtyla (LIBD)

Why choose ceramic coating instead of repeated polishing?

A single-stage polish restores gloss for six to twelve months, but every cycle removes a micron layer of clear coat. Ceramic coating locks in the corrected paint under a chemically bonded silica layer that nothing else will match for hardness and hydrophobic behaviour. Jet-A mist, belly carbon, Type I fluid, and insect strikes sheet off during taxi rather than baking into the surface.

We recommend ceramic after a repaint—when the OEM clear coat is still thick—or after a complete detail that has already corrected oxidation. The coating does not hide swirls or scratches; it magnifies gloss only when the paint beneath is already level. If your cheat line has lost definition or the nacelles show handling scuffs, we correct those first, then lock the result under two ceramic layers so the next operator in the fleet program sees the same mirror finish you approved on delivery day.

What changes at Bari Karol Wojtyla?

Bari sits at 193 feet elevation with a single 3,000-metre runway, 07/25, long enough for any business jet you will cold-soak in the hangar. The airport is fully coordinated—Level 3 summer and winter—which means every commercial movement above nineteen seats requires an Assoclearance slot. General aviation and air-taxi flights instead go through the airport operator's own authorisation procedure, so your handler submits the request as soon as you confirm the three- to six-day window.

Two handling agents are present at the airport: GH Puglia and Fly Service. Either will arrange the hangar, GPU, and airside escort while we work. Because the aircraft will not move for several days, coordinate the slot release and the next PPR early; a ceramic cure cannot be rushed, and any attempt to reposition before full polymerisation will leave swirl marks in the uncured layer.

Bari has no curfew listed in the published data, but noise-abatement procedures apply, and the handlers know the local coordination office. If you plan to leave at dawn after the final buffing, file the flight plan the evening before and confirm stand availability with the FBO.

How does the three-to-six-day process work on the stand?

Day one is decontamination: we clay-bar the entire fuselage, wings, tail, and belly to lift bonded contaminants—brake dust in the gear bays, exhaust carbon aft of the nacelles, de-icing residue on the leading edges. Day two is paint correction with a rotary polisher and graduated compounds until the paint reads level under a depth gauge. Days three and four are coating: first layer on paint, cure under infrared, second layer, cure again, then brightwork and windows. Days five and six are final cure and quality inspection; we measure thickness with a gauge, check hydrophobic behaviour with a water-bead test, and photograph every panel under raking light.

The aircraft stays on GPU the entire time because we need stable cabin temperature for the interior wipe-down and because the avionics bay must remain sealed—no-touch rule. If your next leg is time-critical, we can compress the schedule to three full days by overlapping cure cycles, but we will not release the aircraft until the coating has fully cross-linked.

What do you deliver at the end of the cure period?

You receive a printed maintenance plan that lists the recommended wash interval—now every eight to twelve weeks instead of four—and the approved rinseless wash chemistry that will not degrade the silica layer. The warranty document covers coating failure: delamination, hazing, or loss of hydrophobic properties within twenty-four months, assuming you follow the maintenance plan and do not use solvent-based cleaners on the coated surfaces.

We also hand over a USB drive with time-stamped photographs of every coated panel, the thickness-gauge readings at twelve reference points, and the water-bead test video. If you sell the aircraft or transfer it within the fleet, the next chief pilot will know exactly what protection is already in place and when the next ceramic application is due. The tech log entry records the coating date, the product batch number, and the cure temperature, so any MRO can verify the work without contacting us.

Does ceramic coating work in a recurring fleet-wash programme?

It transforms the economics. A fleet of three super-midsize jets flying two hundred hours a month will typically need a dry wash every four weeks and a rinseless wash with polish every twelve weeks. After ceramic coating, the dry wash interval stretches to six or eight weeks because contaminants do not bond, and the rinseless wash no longer requires polish—just a pH-neutral shampoo and a microfibre wipe. Over two years you eliminate sixteen polish cycles across the fleet, which means sixteen fewer days in the hangar and sixteen fewer opportunities to inflict swirl marks or burn through the clear coat on a winglet leading edge.

We build the ceramic application into the fleet rotation: one aircraft every eight months, timed to follow scheduled maintenance so the jet is already in the hangar and off the flight board. The upfront cost is higher than a single-stage polish, but the total cost of ownership drops because you are buying time between washes, not just gloss.

Can you apply ceramic coating during an AOG turnaround at Bari?

No. An AOG turnaround measures hours; ceramic coating measures days. The decontamination alone takes six hours, paint correction another eight, and each ceramic layer needs twelve hours to cure under controlled temperature before we apply the next. If the aircraft is already AOG for an engine change or an avionics retrofit and the downtime will exceed four days, we can coordinate with the MRO to apply the coating once their work is signed off, but we will not begin until the tech log is clear and the aircraft is available for the full cure cycle.

The right moment for ceramic is either planned maintenance—a C-check, a cabin refresh, a repaint—or a deliberate gap in the charter schedule when the aircraft would otherwise sit idle on the ramp. If you are positioning through Bari between a Mediterranean charter season and a winter Alpine programme, that two-week gap is the ideal window: we coat, cure, document, and release the jet with protection that will survive the next fifty de-icing cycles without losing gloss.