Aircraft Detailing at Munich (EDDM)

What changes at Munich?

Munich sits at 1,487 ft elevation with two parallel 4,000-metre runways, and the General Aviation Terminal operates from 06:00 to 22:00 local, with office hours starting half an hour earlier. Handling agents present at the airport include ExecuJet Europe, Lufthansa Technik, MAS Munich Aviation Service, Signature and AHS München, and the GAT itself is 28.5 km from central Munich. The airport is slot-coordinated, so every arrival and departure has a planned window.

Night restrictions matter here: between 22:00 and midnight, and again from 05:00 to 06:00, only aircraft on the federal bonus list—or delayed Chapter 3 types—may move. Core night, midnight to 05:00, is reserved almost exclusively for mail and survey flights. That means business jets arriving after dinner stay on the ground until morning, which opens a predictable window for complete details, ceramic-coating cure time or cabin disinfection while the crew rests.

The GAT closes at 22:00, and its adjacent hangars shift to maintenance and parking; short-term hangar rental can be ordered up to three hours before arrival. FBO services outside 06:00–22:00 are on request only, so if you need a detail during the curfew you must arrange it in advance. There is no public transport to the GAT; short-term parking and the P35 car park sit next door, which simplifies bringing our own water tanks, polishers and vacuum equipment to the stand.

Which detailing services run at the General Aviation Terminal?

We offer the full suite: quick turns for a flight-ready reset—cabin vacuum, galley wipe-down, lavatory service, windows inside and out, a waterless exterior if the paint is lightly dusty—completed in under ninety minutes on the ramp. Exterior dry wash uses aviation-approved rinseless chemistry when water restrictions apply or when you want to avoid towing the aircraft to a wash bay. Full interior detail means every leather surface cleaned and conditioned, veneer polished, carpets extracted, sidewalls wiped, galley degreased and lavatory stripped back to gelcoat, then protected.

Brightwork polish covers bare-metal leading edges, nacelle inlets, spinners and exhaust cones, worked by hand with diminishing grades of compound until the reflection is mirror-sharp. A complete detail combines exterior wash, paint decontamination, single-stage polish, brightwork, full interior and disinfection; it typically needs eight to twelve hours and a hangar or a guaranteed overnight on the ramp. Ceramic coating—applied over corrected paint and polished brightwork—cures for twenty-four hours and delivers hydrophobic protection for two to four years. Cabin disinfection sanitises high-touch surfaces and the air path with products that meet aviation material approvals. Finally, the fleet-care programme schedules quick turns after every leg, monthly interiors, quarterly brightwork and an annual or bi-annual complete detail, all documented in a shared log.

How does timing work between legs at Munich?

Slot coordination and the night curfew create a rhythm. Most business-aviation movements cluster between mid-morning and early evening; if you land at 14:00 and depart at 18:00, we have a three-hour envelope for a quick turn or an exterior dry wash. If the aircraft overnights—common when the inbound arrives after 20:00 and the curfew holds departures until 06:00—we can start a complete detail once the passengers disembark, work through the evening in the hangar or on a lit stand, and have the jet ready by 05:30 when the FBO office opens.

Recurring clients often build the detail into the overnight: land Monday evening, complete detail Monday night through Tuesday morning, depart Tuesday at 07:00. For ceramic coating or multi-day paint correction, short-term hangar rental—bookable up to three hours before arrival—keeps the aircraft out of the weather and secures the cure environment. We coordinate directly with your handler to align GPU supply, towing if needed, and airside-pass escort so that our team reaches the stand without delay.

What does Munich's climate do to paint and cabin?

Bavaria brings cold winters, warm summers and year-round moisture. Winter temperatures regularly drop below freezing, and snow or freezing rain leave de-icing-fluid residue—Type I glycol streaks and Type IV polymer film—on the belly, nacelles and winglets. If that residue is not removed within a few flights, it bakes onto the paint in spring and requires clay-bar decontamination before any polish will bite. Leading edges and spinners also collect road salt thrown up by ground vehicles on the apron, which tarnishes brightwork within days.

Summer heat and afternoon thunderstorms bring their own challenges: pollen in May and June, insect strikes on the nose and wing roots in July and August, and heavy rain that spots the fuselage if the paint has lost its hydrophobic layer. Inside the cabin, humidity swings between winter heating and summer air-conditioning cause leather to dry and crack unless it is conditioned every four to six weeks. Veneer can lift at the edges if moisture gets underneath, and carpets trap road dirt tracked in from the P35 car park during crew changes. A monthly interior as part of a fleet-care programme keeps those issues ahead of the tech log.

Why does documentation matter for Munich-based aircraft?

Every detail we complete generates a photo report—time-stamped images of the cabin before and after, close-ups of brightwork, exterior panels, and any paint defect or material wear we encounter—and a signed tech-log entry listing the products used, the areas treated and the next recommended service interval. For aircraft on an AOC or operating under IS-BAO, that paper trail proves compliance when the auditor asks how cabin disinfection or paint maintenance is managed.

Recurring work relies on the same documentation to show trend: if the port leading edge needs re-polishing every ninety days but the starboard edge holds its shine for six months, the photo log will reveal an asymmetric wear pattern—often a clue that one side sees more ground time facing the prevailing wind or that a particular stand has harsher apron wash-down. Fleet managers use our reports to schedule hangar time, budget for paint correction or justify ceramic coating to the owner. The documentation also protects you if a question arises about a scratch or a stain; we photograph the aircraft as we find it, so there is no ambiguity about what was already there and what we treated.

How do recurring and one-off jobs fit together at EDDM?

Roughly two-thirds of our Munich work is recurring: aircraft based at the GAT long-term, fleets that overnight weekly, or charter operators on a regular schedule who want the cabin reset after every rotation. Those clients sit inside a twelve-month fleet-care programme with fixed intervals—quick turn after each leg, full interior monthly, brightwork quarterly, complete detail twice a year—so we can pre-position materials, book hangar slots in advance and keep a history of every surface.

The remaining third is one-off work: a transient ultra-long-range jet arriving from the Middle East with a dusty belly and insect strikes; an owner who has just purchased a pre-owned aircraft and wants a complete detail and ceramic coating before first revenue flight; an AOG scenario where the aircraft has been on the stand for three days and the cabin needs disinfection before passengers board. One-off jobs require faster coordination—often forty-eight hours' notice or less—but they benefit from the same processes: photo report, tech-log entry, and a recommendation for the next service interval so that the operator can decide whether to book us again at the home base or at the next European stop.