Fleet Care Program at Saint-Tropez La Môle (LFTZ)

What changes at Saint-Tropez La Môle for a fleet program?

The field sits 59 feet above sea level, 15 kilometres from Saint-Tropez, with a single 1,071-metre runway. That length limits operations to light jets and turboprops; anything heavier stays at Cannes or Nice. The airport operates as a seasonal resort facility—traffic peaks from May through September, then drops sharply. Handling agents present at the airport include Sky Valet Saint-Tropez, whose terminal sits on route de Canadel at La Môle.

Pilot qualification here is Group 2: crews need either a special local qualification filed with the DGAC or an airport introduction with an approved instructor before they can operate the approach. Most operators arrive with a qualified pilot already on the roster, which makes schedules rigid and turnaround windows tight. A fleet program absorbs that rigidity by pre-booking appearance slots around your known rotation, so the aircraft rolls in, we work, and it departs on the filed slot without waiting for a wash bay to open.

The seasonal rhythm matters. Salt haze drifts inland from the Mediterranean through the summer, brightwork oxidises faster, and cabin interiors take a beating from high-frequency charter legs. A twelve-month contract spreads the work across the calendar: quick turns during peak season, deeper cleans and polish cycles in the shoulder months, and a full exterior decon before the fleet repositions for winter.

How does the service calendar fit around flight operations?

We build the calendar in the first week of the contract. You share your expected rotation—home-base days, overnight stops, maintenance windows—and we plot appearance work into gaps that already exist. A quick turn might take forty minutes on stand between an inbound charter and the next leg; a monthly interior happens during a planned overnight; a full exterior and brightwork cycle lands in a three-day maintenance window or at the end of a charter block.

The calendar lives as a shared document. Your ops team updates it when schedules shift, and we adjust crew allocation to match. If an aircraft goes AOG or a charter extends, we move the slot without penalty. Priority access means that when you do call with an unplanned request—a client spill, a bird strike, a ramp fuel stain—we pull a technician from the roster and meet the aircraft, even if it falls outside the calendar. The program rate covers a set number of visits per tail per month; anything beyond that threshold bills at a pre-agreed AOG rate, still lower than our walk-up price.

What does a typical visit look like under the Fleet Care Program?

A quick turn starts when the aircraft shuts down. We meet it on the apron with a trolley: rinseless wash for the fuselage and wings, brightwork wipe-down, gear-bay inspection, cabin vacuum and galley clean, lavatory service if the handler hasn't already done it. Leading edges, nacelles and the belly get attention if the pre-flight walk-around flagged anything. The tech log gets a signature, photos go into the service history file, and the aircraft is back on GPU within the hour.

Monthly interiors are deeper: seats and sidewalls cleaned with OEM-approved products, carpets extracted, galley and lavatory decontaminated, all glass and mirrors polished, static ports and pitot covers checked. We photograph high-wear areas—armrests, seat tracks, galley edges—so you can track deterioration over the contract year and plan refurbishment during a scheduled down period.

Seasonal exteriors happen two or three times across the twelve months, depending on your flight hours. We dry-wash or perform a full decon if the aircraft has been working coastal routes, then single-stage polish on the fuselage and a separate cycle for brightwork. Winglets, cheat line and the nose get extra attention. If the paint is cold-soaked from an early-morning arrival, we wait for the surface to warm rather than risk streaking. The whole cycle takes half a day; we coordinate with the handler so the aircraft stays on a stand with GPU rather than blocking the apron.

Why does a fixed monthly budget matter for charter operators at LFTZ?

Charter ops run on tight margins, and appearance costs that swing month to month make budgeting harder. A fleet program converts variable spending into a fixed line: you pay the same amount per tail every month, regardless of whether we did two quick turns or a quick turn plus a full interior. That predictability lets you price charter legs accurately and avoid surprise invoices when a client requests a pre-flight detail or when summer salt haze forces an extra wash cycle.

The fixed budget also removes the negotiation friction. Your dispatcher calls, tells us which tail and which stand, and we show up. No quote, no purchase order, no back-and-forth on whether a particular stain counts as a quick turn or a deep clean. We track every visit against the contract allowance, and you get a monthly report showing services delivered, photos, and remaining balance. If you're trending toward the threshold, we flag it early so you can decide whether to add visits or let the aircraft ride until the next cycle.

How does priority AOG cover work during the summer peak?

Peak season at Saint-Tropez means back-to-back legs, tight turnarounds, and no slack in the schedule. An AOG call—hydraulic fluid on the belly, a cabin spill, a bird strike on the radome—can ground an aircraft for hours if you're waiting for a contractor to mobilise. Fleet program clients get priority: we hold crew capacity in reserve, and when you call, we pull a technician off a lower-priority job or call in an off-shift team member.

Response time depends on where the aircraft is. If it's on stand at La Môle, we're there in under thirty minutes. If it's at another Côte d'Azur field and you need us to travel, we coordinate with the handler for airside access and arrive as fast as the drive allows. The work itself—clean the spill, wipe down the affected area, photograph it for insurance—happens quickly, and we clear the aircraft back to service as soon as the tech log is signed. AOG cover is included in the monthly rate up to a set number of callouts per year; beyond that, each incident bills at the pre-agreed rate, still lower than our standard emergency fee.

What happens during the quarterly appearance review?

Every three months, we sit down with your operations team—in person at La Môle if you're based nearby, or by video call if you're managing the fleet remotely. We walk through the service history: every visit logged, photos of the aircraft before and after each cycle, notes on recurring issues like galley staining or belly discolouration. The review is a chance to adjust the calendar for the next quarter, add or remove visits if your flight hours have changed, and flag any wear patterns that might need deeper attention.

We also use the review to discuss seasonal planning. If the fleet is repositioning for winter, we'll propose a final exterior decon and protective treatment before the aircraft leaves the Côte d'Azur. If you're adding a tail to the program or retiring one, we adjust the contract and the monthly invoice. The goal is to keep the program aligned with how you actually operate, not locked into a schedule that made sense in January but no longer fits by August.