Aircraft Detailing at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry (LFLL)

What changes at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry?

The field sits at 821 feet, twenty kilometres east of Lyon city centre. Two parallel runways—4,000 metres and 2,670 metres—mean plenty of flexibility for departures and arrivals, though COHOR schedule-facilitation applies to all IFR traffic between 06:00 and 22:59 local. Outside that window the airport remains open around the clock, which matters if you are ferrying in late or positioning out before dawn.

Lyon has no dedicated general-aviation terminal; business jets share apron space and handling with commercial traffic. Storage and hangars are marketed at the city's second airport, Lyon-Bron, rather than here at Saint-Exupéry. For detailing that means we work where your handler parks you: usually on stand with GPU and airside escort, occasionally inside a maintenance hangar if the aircraft is already there for scheduled work. Elevation is low enough that we see no meaningful change in drying time or product behaviour, but the shared-use apron does mean we confirm stand availability and PPR with your handler before mobilising kit.

How do quick turns fit between legs at Lyon?

A quick turn is a flight-ready reset: cabin vacuum and wipe-down, galley and lavatory service, window cleaning and a waterless exterior wash of the belly, nacelles and leading edges. The goal is to have the aircraft looking sharp and smelling neutral in the hour or ninety minutes between blocks. At Lyon-Saint-Exupéry that window is usually tight; schedule-facilitated slots and shared apron space mean handlers want the stand clear as soon as refuelling and catering are done.

We coordinate the sequence with your handler and flight crew. If the inbound leg carried catering waste or if the lavatory needs a proper scrub, we ask for an extra fifteen minutes. Waterless exterior work happens while the cabin is being turned; no tow to a wash rack, no wait for a bowser. The result is an aircraft that photographs well and feels clean without eating into the next departure slot.

Why choose waterless dry wash over a traditional rinse at this airport?

Lyon-Saint-Exupéry has no published restrictions on water use, but a rinseless dry wash still makes more sense for most business-aviation turnarounds. Waterless products let us clean the aircraft on stand, using the GPU window you already have, without towing to a wash pad or waiting for a bowser and pressure hose. The chemistry lifts dust, exhaust residue and light soiling without scratching the paint, and the process leaves a thin hydrophobic layer that helps the next rain sheet off cleanly.

If the aircraft has spent weeks in the weather or picked up de-icing fluid, we recommend a full wash with decontamination clay and a single-stage polish. That work usually happens inside a hangar or on a dedicated stand overnight, and we arrange it with your handler in advance. For everything else—dust from a Mediterranean leg, bellies streaked after a rainy departure, nacelles that need to look good for a charter client—waterless dry wash delivers a clean aircraft in the time it takes to refuel.

What does a full interior detail involve at Lyon-Saint-Exupéry?

A full interior detail is a deep clean of every cabin surface: leather conditioning, veneer polish, carpet extraction, sidewall wipe-down, galley degreasing and lavatory disinfection. We also clean seat tracks, air vents, window reveals and the inside of stowage compartments. The process takes four to six hours depending on cabin size and configuration, so it is usually scheduled during an overnight stop, a maintenance visit or a longer layover between charter legs.

Lyon's shared-use apron means we need a stand with GPU or APU clearance for the duration, and an airside escort if the handler requires one. We bring our own extraction machine, steam cleaner and lighting; everything else—cleaning chemistry, microfibre cloths, brushes—is aviation-specific and chosen to match OEM cabin materials. At the end we photograph high-touch areas and file a short report in the tech log or hand it to the captain. If the aircraft is part of a fleet programme we also note which areas will need attention next time, so the twelve-month plan stays ahead of wear rather than reacting to it.

How does climate at Lyon affect paint and brightwork?

Lyon sits in the Rhône valley with a climate that swings between cold winters and warm, dry summers. Winter brings road salt, de-icing fluid and the occasional freeze; summer brings UV, dust from the Mediterranean and baked-on exhaust staining around the APU. Paint oxidises faster under strong sun, and brightwork—leading edges, spinners, nacelle lips—loses its mirror finish as soon as it is exposed to exhaust gas and rain.

We see the damage in stages. A super-midsize that spends July and August flying between Lyon, Nice and Ibiza will come back with a hazy clearcoat and tarnished leading edges. An ultra-long-range jet that winters here and uses Type I fluid every other morning will have salt residue in the gear bays and along the cheat line by March. Both problems are fixable: paint decontamination and a single-stage polish for the fuselage, hand-polishing for the brightwork. If the aircraft is based here or visits monthly, a ceramic coating makes sense; the hydrophobic layer sheds de-icing fluid and road spray, and it keeps the paint looking glossy between washes.

What documentation and photo reports do you provide after detailing at LFLL?

Every job ends with a written summary and a set of photographs. For a quick turn that might be a single page noting what was done and how long it took; for a complete detail or ceramic application it will be a multi-page report with before-and-after images, product batch numbers and a list of any areas that need future attention. We file the report in the tech log if the captain prefers, or email it to the flight department and handler.

The photographs are taken with a calibrated camera under consistent lighting, and they show panel gaps, leading edges, cabin high-touch areas and any brightwork we have polished. If you are selling the aircraft or preparing it for a charter audit, the photo set becomes part of the handover documentation. If the aircraft is in a fleet-care programme, we compare each month's images to spot trends—a section of veneer that is fading faster than the rest, a nacelle that is picking up more exhaust staining than its twin—and adjust the cleaning schedule accordingly.