Ceramic Coating at Marseille Provence (LFML)

Why choose ceramic coating rather than another polish?

A single-stage polish delivers gloss for six to twelve months; ceramic coating extends that protection to two or three years. The ceramic layer bonds chemically to corrected paint, forming a hydrophobic surface that repels exhaust soot, de-icing fluid residue, and insect strikes. Between washes the fuselage stays cleaner, and when you do book a rinseless wash the contaminants lift with half the dwell time.

We recommend ceramic after a repaint or a Complete Detail, when the paint is already corrected. If your jet has moderate oxidation or swirl marks, we begin with a multi-stage correction before the ceramic goes on; that correction is included in the service. The result is a finish that looks freshly polished every time you walk across the apron, and a tech log that shows fewer unscheduled washes over the warranty period.

What changes at Marseille Provence?

Marseille Provence sits at seventy feet elevation, twenty-seven kilometres north-west of the city centre at Marignane. Two runways—13L/31R at 3,500 metres and 13R/31L at 2,370 metres—handle everything from light jets to airliners, and the airport operates around the clock with no slot curfew. Administration, customs, immigration, ATS, fuelling, handling, and de-icing all run H24, so you can position the aircraft for a ceramic application at any hour that suits the flight department.

Jetex Marseille staffs the Terminal Aviation Générale twenty-four hours and holds customs and immigration clearance on site, which matters when your crew arrives after a transatlantic leg or departs before dawn. Handling is mandatory under the AIP—the agent must be contacted before you leave your origin aerodrome—so our detailing crew coordinates airside access through Jetex. We collect the aircraft on stand, tow it to the hangar, and return it to the apron with a full photo report and the warranty file in the tech log.

Because COHOR classifies MRS as Level 1 and no slots are required, you can schedule the three-to-six-day cure window around charter commitments or maintenance events without waiting for a facilitated time. The Mediterranean climate is mild year-round, though summer apron temperatures mean we prefer to begin masking and prep work early in the morning or after sunset when the fuselage has cooled.

How do you prepare the paint before the ceramic goes on?

Ceramic bonds only to clean, corrected paint. We start with a full decontamination wash using pH-neutral chemicals and a clay-bar pass over every panel to lift embedded rail dust, exhaust particles, and tree-sap residue. The belly, gear bays, and nacelles receive the same treatment because contaminants trapped under ceramic will telegraph through the gloss.

Next we inspect the paint under high-intensity lighting and mark any oxidation, swirl marks, or scratches deeper than fifteen microns. A multi-stage machine polish removes those defects, working from a cutting compound down to a finishing polish. Leading edges, winglets, and the cheat line get individual attention because those areas see the most environmental exposure. Once the paint reads consistent gloss under a meter, we wipe down every surface with an isopropyl solution to remove polish oils, then apply the first ceramic layer within the same shift so no new contamination settles.

What happens during the ceramic application and cure?

We apply two ceramic layers to the paint and a single coat to brightwork and windows. The first paint layer goes on in overlapping passes with a microfibre applicator, panel by panel, and we allow it to flash for twelve minutes before buffing to a uniform film. Six hours later, after the solvents have evaporated in the hangar, we lay down the second coat using the same method. Each layer adds roughly two microns of thickness, and the two together create the hydrophobic surface that defines the warranty period.

Brightwork—nacelle rings, windscreen surrounds, static ports—receives a single ceramic coat formulated for metal. We mask pitot probes and static ports with low-tack tape, apply the coating by hand, and remove the tape before the cure begins. Windows get the same single layer, which fills microscopic scratches and makes rain bead during descent.

Curing takes forty-eight hours at controlled temperature, typically between fifteen and twenty-five degrees Celsius. The aircraft remains in the hangar with the doors closed and no ground power attached, because vibration from a GPU can disturb the film before it fully cross-links. After forty-eight hours we perform a water-break test on three panels—if the water sheets uniformly, the coating is cured—and tow the jet back to the stand.

What does the handler expect from a third-party detailing crew?

Jetex at Marseille Provence requires every airside worker to hold a valid escort or an individual airport pass, and they expect us to notify them twenty-four hours before we tow the aircraft. We send the handler our crew list, vehicle registrations, and the planned hangar location; they issue a movement permit and confirm that the stand will be available when we return the jet. If you're arriving on a Friday evening for a Monday-morning departure, we make certain the handler knows the aircraft will be off-stand for the full weekend.

The handler also wants to see our third-party liability insurance—five million euros is standard—and a signed agreement that we will not operate ground power, start the APU, or enter the flight deck without the chief pilot's written permission. We carry that agreement as part of our airside kit, and we ask you to countersign it during the pre-work walkaround. Once the ceramic is cured and the aircraft is back on stand, the handler performs a final inspection of the parking position, we sign off on the movement log, and you receive the tech-log entry and the warranty document before the next departure.

What documentation and maintenance plan do we provide?

You receive a warranty document that lists the application date, the ceramic product batch number, the number of layers on paint and brightwork, and the recommended maintenance intervals. Most ceramic systems carry a two-year warranty against delamination or hazing, provided you follow the maintenance plan: a pH-neutral rinseless wash every four to six weeks, no automatic brush washes, and no solvent-based cleaners on the coated surfaces.

The photo report runs to sixty or eighty images, shot before decontamination, after paint correction, immediately after the second ceramic layer, and once the cure is complete. We include close-ups of leading edges, the belly, and any area that showed oxidation during the prep work, so you have a visual record of the correction. The report goes into the tech log as a PDF, and we keep a copy in our file for three years in case you need to reference the work during a pre-purchase inspection or an insurance claim.

We also hand over a maintenance card that lists the approved wash chemicals and the contact schedule. If you operate a fleet program, we can align the ceramic renewals across all aircraft so that every jet comes through Marseille Provence—or another European field—on the same two-year cycle, and the entire fleet maintains a consistent appearance without unscheduled polish work between legs.