Quick Turn at Bologna Guglielmo Marconi (LIPE)

How does airside access work at Bologna for a third-party detailing crew?

Bologna is a public airport with strict airside-escort rules. We hold our own permanent passes and coordinate entry through the handler twenty-four hours before the slot. Once your aircraft is on stand and connected to GPU, the ramp controller clears us onto the apron; we bring our own equipment trolley, so no handler vehicle is needed after the initial escort.

Because the airport is fully coordinated, every arrival and departure requires an Assoclearance slot. That means your handler files the PPR early, and we align our arrival window with your actual block time rather than the scheduled one. If you slip inbound, the handler updates us; if you go tech or face a delay, we hold at the FBO until release rather than starting the clock on stand.

Both TAG Bologna and AviaVIP operate around the clock, so night and weekend turnarounds carry no access penalty. The handler expects a crew member or dispatcher to confirm the scope—cabin only, or cabin plus exterior wipe—and to provide any specific galley or lavatory supplies you want loaded. We do not restock catering; if you need fresh provisions, the handler arranges that separately.

What changes at Bologna Guglielmo Marconi that affects the quick turn?

The field sits at one hundred and twenty-three feet, so density altitude is rarely a constraint, but the single runway—12/30, two thousand eight hundred and three metres—handles a dense mix of scheduled narrowbodies and business traffic. Slot coordination means every movement is timed; if you arrive early, you may hold for your slot to clear before taxi-in, and if you depart late, the handler must refile. That timing discipline extends to ground services: we book the turn against your slot window, not your estimated block-off.

TAG Bologna operates a dedicated general-aviation terminal with an eleven-hundred-square-metre passenger lounge, a twenty-two-thousand-square-metre apron and a two-thousand-square-metre hangar. Most quick turns happen on the apron rather than inside, because moving the aircraft in and out consumes fifteen to twenty minutes of your ground time. The hangar is reserved for longer detailing work or weather protection during decon and polish.

H24 operations mean no curfew and no seasonal closure, but summer afternoon temperatures can push the ramp above thirty-five degrees Celsius, which shortens the working window for waterless chemicals before they flash. Winter fog occasionally grounds morning departures; if you are holding for weather, we pause the turn until you have a realistic slot rather than cleaning an aircraft that may sit for hours.

What does the quick-turn scope include, and what does it leave out?

The service is built around passenger-facing surfaces and the exterior areas that collect the most operational grime. Inside, we vacuum all cabin carpet and wipe every seat, armrest, table and monument surface with pH-neutral cleaner safe for OEM leather, Ultraleather and veneer. The galley is wiped down, bins are emptied, and the lavatory is cleaned and disinfected; if you provide supplies—soap, towels, sanitiser—we restock them. Cockpit and cabin windows are cleaned on the inside only; the exterior glass receives a waterless wipe if it is part of the nose and windscreen area, but the full window exteriors are not polished unless you book a dry wash.

The exterior wipe covers the nose, cockpit windscreens, leading edges of the wings and the area around the main entry door—the surfaces your next passengers see during boarding. We use a rinseless spray and microfibre; no water runoff, no APU shutdown required. Belly, gear bays, nacelle interiors and the aft fuselage are not touched; those areas belong to a full wash or a post-decon detail.

Trash is bagged and handed to the handler for disposal. We do not service potable or waste tanks; the handler does that under the standard turnaround package. If you need a deeper galley clean—oven, fridge seals, under-counter spills—or a cabin deodorisation beyond air neutraliser, tell us during booking and we will add the time.

How long does the turn take, and can it fit inside a typical ground stop?

A light jet takes forty-five minutes from chocks-on to sign-off; a super-midsize runs sixty to seventy-five; an ultra-long-range or a lineage may reach ninety if the galley is complex or the cabin has multiple zones. We start as soon as the door is open and GPU is connected, so the clock runs concurrently with refuelling and any handler walkaround. If your ground time is two hours, the quick turn consumes less than half of it.

The tightest windows are passenger turnarounds with a thirty- or forty-minute scheduled stop. In those cases we focus on the cabin and skip the exterior wipe, or we split the crew—one inside, one on a ladder at the nose—so both finish together. The handler will tell you during PPR if the slot leaves room for a third-party service; if it does not, we recommend booking the turn at a later stop in the rotation where you have more margin.

Weather and ramp traffic can compress the window. If the inbound arrives late and you are tight on the outbound slot, we prioritise the cabin and lavatory over the exterior; a clean passenger experience matters more than a polished nose when you are racing the clock. The handler coordinates pushback and engine start, so we are off the aircraft and clear of the safety zone at least ten minutes before your filed block-off.

What documentation and photos do you provide after the quick turn?

Every service closes with a written report and a set of time-stamped photographs uploaded to a shared folder or sent by email. The report lists the scope completed—cabin vacuum, galley wipe, lavatory service, window clean, exterior wipe—and notes any discrepancies: a torn seat seam, a cracked galley panel, a loose cabin fitting. We do not perform repairs, but we flag them so your maintenance controller can track them.

The photo set includes before-and-after shots of the cabin interior, close-ups of high-touch surfaces, and an exterior view showing the nose and entry area post-wipe. If you operate under an SMS or a third-party audit regime, the photos provide evidence that the aircraft was serviced to standard between legs. Some fleet managers use them for trend analysis—tracking how quickly carpets wear or how often galley panels need attention.

A tech-log entry is prepared on our letterhead and handed to the handling agent or the captain before departure. It records the service date, aircraft registration, scope, start and finish times, and the name of the lead technician. If your operation requires a specific form or a digital logbook entry, send us the template during booking and we will match it.

What do you need from the handler and the flight crew to make the turn efficient?

The handler needs to confirm parking stand, GPU availability and airside-escort clearance at least twelve hours before the slot. If the stand changes or the arrival slips, a text or email update keeps us synchronised. We do not need the handler to provide cleaning materials or equipment, but we do need them to unlock the aircraft if the crew has deplaned and to dispose of the bagged trash after we finish.

The flight crew or dispatcher should tell us during booking whether you want the exterior wipe included, whether you are restocking galley or lavatory supplies, and whether any cabin area is off-limits—cold-soaked avionics bays, a sealed cockpit, a passenger cabin under customs seal. If you are carrying cargo or luggage in the aisle, let us know; we work around it, but it adds ten minutes to the vacuum. If you have a preferred cleaning product for a specific surface—a special leather conditioner, a stone countertop sealer—bring it to the aircraft and we will use it instead of our standard pH-neutral cleaner.

Payment and invoicing go through the handler or directly to us, depending on your preference. Most fleet operators set up a monthly account; ad-hoc charters and owner-flown aircraft pay by card or bank transfer against a proforma invoice issued after booking. The handler will include our service fee in the master handling invoice if you request it during PPR, or we invoice separately within forty-eight hours of the turn.