Complete Detail at Zagreb Franjo Tuđman (LDZA)

What does a complete detail involve at Zagreb?

We start with a dry wash or rinseless exterior clean to lift the surface layer of dust, fuel stain and apron grime. Paint is then decontaminated using a clay bar or chemical process to remove bonded contamination—industrial fallout, tree sap, insect residue—that washing alone cannot shift. A single-stage machine polish follows, cutting light oxidation and restoring gloss without removing enough clear coat to compromise long-term durability. Brightwork around the cheat line, nacelles and leading edges is polished by hand.

Inside, we vacuum and shampoo all soft surfaces, clean hard panels with no-touch protocols around avionics and touchscreens, treat leather according to OEM cabin materials guidance, and disinfect every high-contact point in the cabin and flight deck. Galley, lavatory and baggage compartments are detailed to the same standard. The final step is a photographic report showing the aircraft before we begin and after we finish, delivered as a PDF with time and date stamps for your records.

How long does the aircraft remain on stand?

A complete detail occupies the aircraft for two to five days, depending on size, interior configuration and the condition of the paint when we begin. An ultra-long-range cabin with complex seating, multiple zones and stone or wood veneer will sit at the longer end of that window; a super-midsize with a simpler fit-out can often be turned in two and a half days. We schedule the work inside a hangar whenever the airport and the handling agent can arrange it, both to control dust and to avoid weather delays during the polish stages.

If you are working against a delivery slot or a pre-buy inspection date, tell us when you request the quote. We will confirm whether the schedule is achievable and whether any prep—panel removal for deep cleaning, for example—can be done concurrently by your maintenance team. Cold-soaked aircraft arriving in winter may need a day of ambient warming before we begin interior work, and we factor that hold into the timeline from the start.

What changes at Zagreb Franjo Tuđman?

Zagreb sits at 353 feet elevation with a single runway, 04/22, stretching 3252 metres. The airport operates around the clock without a curfew, so arrivals and departures for detail work can be scheduled at any hour that suits your crew's duty limits and the handling agent's staffing. The General Aviation Terminal—Terminal Generalne Avijacije, or TGA—is on the western side of the airport campus, separated from the commercial apron, and all passenger and crew immigration and customs formalities for business aviation are conducted there. Havaş operates the terminal and coordinates ground handling, including towing, GPU supply and airside escort for our team.

The distance to Zagreb city centre is ten kilometres south-east, which makes crew rest and catering logistics straightforward. Continental climate means cold winters with occasional snow and warm, humid summers; paint can accumulate road salt and de-icing fluid residue between November and March, while summer months bring tree pollen, insect strikes on the leading edges and UV exposure that accelerates oxidation. A complete detail scheduled in late spring or early autumn addresses the seasonal contamination before it bonds permanently into the clear coat.

Can you work around a maintenance event at LDZA?

Yes, and we do it often. If your aircraft is already scheduled for an inspection, an avionics upgrade or gear-bay work at Zagreb, we coordinate the detail around the open panels and the maintenance team's access requirements. Exterior polish and brightwork can proceed while the cabin is occupied by technicians; interior detail begins once they have closed up and cleared the aircraft. The photographic report will note any panels left open or any areas we could not reach, so there is no ambiguity in the handover documentation.

When maintenance and detailing overlap, communication with the handling agent and the maintenance shop becomes critical. We attend the same briefings, share the same hangar-access times and ensure that our chemicals, polishing equipment and vacuum extractors do not interfere with calibration work, paint touch-up or any task sensitive to dust or vibration. If you are managing an AOG that has stretched into a multi-day event, a complete detail during the downtime can turn an operational disruption into an opportunity to deliver the aircraft in better condition than it arrived.

Why does the photographic report matter?

A detailed photo set creates an auditable record of the aircraft's condition at two points in time: when we accept it and when we return it. For a pre-buy inspection, the buyer's surveyor can compare our after images against his own findings and confirm that the exterior and cabin were presented in honest condition. For a delivery, the report becomes part of the handover package, showing the new owner or the charter client exactly what standard of finish to expect on first boarding.

We shoot the exterior in natural light when possible, capturing the full fuselage, the belly, the nacelles, the winglets and any area where paint correction or brightwork polish has been applied. Inside, we photograph each cabin zone, the galley, the lavatory, the flight deck and the gear bays before and after cleaning. The images are time-stamped, labelled by tail number and delivered as a single PDF within twenty-four hours of completion. If you need the report formatted differently—separated by exterior and interior, or delivered as individual JPEGs for your own asset-management system—we accommodate that at the time of booking.

How do you handle recurring detail programmes from Zagreb?

For fleets or charter operators using Zagreb as a regular turnaround point, we build a recurring schedule that aligns a complete detail once or twice a year with lighter services—exterior dry wash, cabin refresh—between the deep cleans. The advantage of a programme is predictability: you know the price, the duration and the finish standard before the aircraft lands, and we hold hangar space and schedule our team in advance. Seasonal timing matters; many operators prefer a full detail in April or May, after the winter de-icing season, and again in October before the aircraft repositions south or enters a period of high utilisation.

Recurring work also allows us to track paint condition over time. If we see accelerated oxidation on the upper fuselage or persistent staining around the APU exhaust, we note it in the report and recommend whether a two-stage correction or a repaint evaluation is warranted. That kind of trend data is difficult to gather when you move between different appearance providers at different airports, but it becomes routine when the same team inspects the same aircraft twice a year at the same base.