Quick Turn at Munich (EDDM)

What changes at Munich?

Munich sits at 1,487 feet, 28.5 kilometres from the city centre, with two parallel runways each 4,000 metres long. The General Aviation Terminal operates from 06:00 to 22:00 local, with office hours starting half an hour earlier; the airport itself is open around the clock but under a strict night regime. 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; the core night from midnight to 05:00 is reserved for mail, survey flights and individually approved exceptions. Business jets therefore spend the night on the ground, which shapes how quick turns are scheduled.

Five handling agents work at the GAT: ExecuJet Europe, Lufthansa Technik, MAS Munich Aviation Service, Signature and AHS München. ExecuJet lists its own cleaning services, so coordination with a third-party detailing crew must be explicit in the ground-services request. The terminal is slot-coordinated, and its hangars—used for maintenance and short or long-term parking—can be ordered up to three hours before arrival if you want the aircraft inside while the cabin is being worked. There is no public transport to the GAT; equipment arrives by road via the short-term car park or P35, which matters when a detailing van needs airside access.

Handler work outside 06:00 to 22:00 is on request only, so if your inbound clears the night curfew at 06:01 and departs at 08:30, the quick turn runs in daylight with the terminal fully staffed. If you arrive late afternoon for an early-morning departure, the aircraft will sit overnight and the service is usually completed the evening before or first thing after the GAT reopens.

How does airside access work at the General Aviation Terminal?

The detailing crew requires an airside escort from one of the five handling agents present at the airport. The handler receives the service request—either directly from the operator or through the flight-department coordinator—and arranges the escort, the stand assignment and the time window. If the aircraft is being towed into a hangar for the turnaround, the handler confirms whether the detailing team works inside or waits until the aircraft is back on the apron.

Equipment and supplies travel in a marked van that enters through the airside gate adjacent to the short-term car park. The van is inspected, the crew's identity documents and escort details are logged, and the vehicle proceeds to the stand or hangar. Because there is no public transport to the GAT, all personnel and materials arrive by road, which keeps logistics straightforward but requires the handler to know in advance that a third-party crew is coming.

If the turnaround is tight and the GPU is still connected when the detailing crew arrives, the handler confirms whether cabin power will remain live throughout the service or whether the aircraft will go dark partway through. That timing is noted in the pre-service walk-around so that vacuum work and galley tasks are sequenced correctly.

What happens during a Quick Turn between two legs?

The crew boards as soon as the inbound passengers have deplaned and the handler signals that the cabin is available. A quick walk-through identifies visible dirt, galley and lavatory restocking needs, and any items left behind by the previous passengers. The cabin is vacuumed from the cockpit threshold aft, then all hard surfaces—tables, armrests, seatbacks, galley counters—are wiped with a pH-neutral cleaner safe for the OEM materials. Bins are emptied, fresh liners fitted, and galley and lavatory consumables replenished from the operator's own stock or from supplies carried in the van.

Cockpit and cabin windows are cleaned on the inside only; the exterior glass receives a waterless wipe as part of the fuselage work. The lavatory is sanitised, the mirror polished, and the floor mopped. Once the cabin is reset, the exterior team wipes down the nose, the leading edges of the wings and nacelles, and the area around the entry door—the zones that collect the most visible grime and that passengers see when boarding. The service does not include a full exterior wash or any polishing, but it removes the film that accumulates between flights and keeps the aircraft looking maintained.

Trash is bagged, removed from the aircraft and handed to the handler for disposal. If the cabin has picked up cooking odours or stale air, a light scent neutraliser is applied. The entire sequence runs in 45 to 90 minutes depending on the size of the airframe, and the crew is off the aircraft before the handler begins the final walk-around for departure.

How is the service documented?

A timestamped photo report is compiled as the work progresses: before images of the cabin, galley and lavatory, then after images of the same areas once the reset is complete. Exterior shots show the nose, leading edges and entry zone before and after the waterless wipe. The report is sent to the operator or flight-department manager within an hour of the crew leaving the apron, so there is a visual record of the condition in which the aircraft was returned.

If the tech log requires a cleaning entry—some operators log every service, others only deep cleans—the crew provides a signed sticker or a one-line note that the handler can transcribe. The detailing team does not open the tech log itself and does not work in any area flagged as deferred or placarded without explicit clearance from the captain or the dispatcher.

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

The handler needs to know the service is coming, the estimated duration, and whether any special access is required—hangar, GPU, potable water. That information goes into the ground-services request at the same time as fuel, catering and passenger transport. If the turnaround is inside a narrow slot window, the handler will ask whether the detailing work can overlap with refuelling or whether it must wait until the fuel truck has cleared the stand.

The crew is expected to arrive on time, follow the escort without deviation, and leave the aircraft in the same configuration in which it was found: no circuit breakers pulled, no panels left open, no equipment left on board. All waste goes into the handler's bins, and any consumables taken from the aircraft's own stock—cleaning products, bin liners, paper towels—are noted so the operator can restock before the next leg. If the inbound flight is delayed and the turnaround window shrinks, the detailing crew contacts the handler to confirm whether the service should be shortened, deferred to the overnight, or cancelled outright.

Because ExecuJet lists cleaning among its own services, operators using ExecuJet as the handler should specify in the PPR that a third-party detailing crew will perform the quick turn, to avoid duplication or confusion on the ramp.

When is a Quick Turn the right choice at Munich?

A quick turn makes sense when the aircraft is on the ground for two to four hours between legs and the cabin needs to be reset to departure condition without a full interior detail. Charter operators flying morning positioning legs into EDDM and afternoon revenue flights outbound use it to present a fresh cabin to the paying passengers. Fleet programs with recurring schedules through Munich book the service as a standing instruction, so the detailing crew is waiting when the aircraft arrives and the turnaround proceeds without additional calls or coordination.

It is also the fallback when an overnight deep clean was planned but the inbound is delayed past the GAT closing time: the aircraft spends the night on the stand, and a quick turn is completed first thing after the terminal reopens at 06:00, leaving enough margin for an 08:00 or 09:00 departure. The service does not replace a full wash-and-wax or an interior deep clean, but it keeps the aircraft operationally clean between the longer interventions and ensures that every leg begins with a tidy cabin and a wiped-down exterior.