Complete Detail at Cannes-Mandelieu Airport (LFMD)

What does Complete Detail at Cannes-Mandelieu cover?

The service combines everything in our Exterior Dry Wash and Full Interior Detail—rinseless exterior clean, nacelles, gear bays, leading edges, belly, full cabin and galley deep-clean, leather conditioning, OEM-safe materials handling—with three additional layers: paint decontamination to strip embedded contaminants, single-stage machine polish to restore gloss and remove light oxidation, brightwork polish for all metal trim, and a final disinfection pass across cabin, lavatories and flight deck. You receive a photographic report before and after.

Duration runs two to five days depending on aircraft size, interior configuration and paint condition. We schedule the work in the hangar—Cannes-Mandelieu offers more than 20,000 m² of covered space through the airport authority—so weather and the strict daytime-only curfew do not interrupt the process. The result is an aircraft that photographs well, smells neutral and presents like new inventory, which is why the service appears in most pre-delivery and pre-sale checklists.

What changes at Cannes-Mandelieu Airport for a multi-day detail?

Cannes-Mandelieu sits five kilometres west of Cannes city centre and operates daytime only: 08:00–20:00 in winter (1 January to 8 March, 19 October to 31 December), 08:00–21:00 in shoulder season (9 March to 3 May, 24 August to 18 October) and 08:00–22:00 in high summer (4 May to 23 August), all local time. The airport closes at night with no extensions, so any aircraft staying overnight must be on stand or in the hangar before the curfew. That daytime-only rule shapes every multi-day schedule: we cannot work through the night, and no ferry movements land or depart outside published hours.

The airport is slot-coordinated year-round. During Cannes Film Festival—typically mid-May, for example 12–23 May 2026—and Monaco Grand Prix weekend, slots and PPR are issued together by the CDM coordinator; the number goes into FPL item 18, parking is restricted, and no overtime is granted. A mandatory pilot briefing applies before every first landing at LFMD. The field has two runways: 17/35 (length not published) and a 760-metre grass strip, 04/22, used occasionally by light aircraft. MTOW is capped at 35 tonnes for jets and 22 tonnes for turboprops; anything heavier must divert to Nice.

Sky Valet Cannes is the handling agent present at the airport, operating from the single business-aviation terminal that serves the entire field. When you book a Complete Detail, we coordinate hangar access, GPU, waste disposal and airside escort through that handler. You do not need a second contract; the FBO manages ramp movements, and we manage the aircraft once it is inside.

How does Terso work with the handler at Cannes-Mandelieu?

Handling agents expect third-party appearance crews to arrive with an airside pass or escorted access, to declare all equipment and chemicals in advance, and to leave the stand or hangar in the same condition we found it. At Cannes-Mandelieu that means checking in at the Sky Valet desk, confirming the hangar bay number and tow schedule, and ensuring that waste-water disposal—if any rinseless residue or polish slurry needs collection—is arranged before we start. The handler does not supply detailing consumables, lighting or ladders; we bring everything, including our own GPU adapter if cockpit power is needed for avionics masking.

Because the airport prohibits night operations, the handler will not extend ramp access beyond curfew even for a delayed inbound. If your aircraft lands late in the evening during summer, it will be towed to the hangar or a stand, and our crew begins work the following morning. We build that into the schedule from the first quote, so there are no surprises when a slot shifts by an hour.

The handler also manages the CDM slot and PPR paperwork during high-season events. If you are flying in for a festival-week detail, confirm that the slot number is filed in item 18 and that the handler has reserved hangar space; parking on the apron is limited, and the airport will not accept an aircraft without both documents in place.

When does a Complete Detail make sense at this airport?

Operators choose the full package when the aircraft must be immaculate for a specific event: a pre-buy inspection in the next fortnight, handover to a new owner, the start of a charter season, or a return to service after winter storage. Paint that has sat through a Mediterranean summer or a northern European winter will carry embedded rail dust, exhaust particulate and salt; a dry wash alone will not remove it. The decontamination and polish stages restore the hydrophobic layer and bring back the depth in dark colours, which matters when the buyer's surveyor or your own marketing photos depend on first impressions.

Cannes-Mandelieu is a natural choice for this work because the airport is dedicated to business aviation, hangar availability is high outside festival periods, and the Côte d'Azur is already a hub for pre-season positioning. Many flight departments schedule the detail during a planned layover between charter legs or before the aircraft heads to a maintenance facility elsewhere in Europe. The daytime-only curfew actually helps: it forces a realistic timeline, prevents scope creep, and ensures the crew is rested.

What about recurring detail programmes at Cannes-Mandelieu?

A small number of aircraft based at LFMD or operating frequent Riviera shuttles during summer enter a standing detail agreement: one Complete Detail at the start of the season, then Exterior Dry Wash or Interior Express services between legs as needed. The logic is straightforward—if the aircraft is already polished and protected in May, a rinseless wash every four to six weeks will hold the finish through September. The full detail returns in autumn or the following spring.

For those programmes we pre-arrange hangar access with the airport and the handler, agree a contact protocol (usually the chief pilot's mobile and the handler's ops desk), and keep a set of aircraft-specific notes: which brightwork scratches easily, which cabin materials need extra dwell time, whether the flight deck prefers pitot covers left on or stowed. That continuity means faster turnarounds and no repeated briefings. If your fleet includes a regular Cannes rotation, ask about a recurring schedule when you request the first quote.

How do you schedule a Complete Detail between legs at Cannes?

Operational timing depends on whether the aircraft is staying at LFMD for the duration or positioning in and out around other flights. The simplest case: the jet arrives in the morning, we tow it into the hangar, and it remains there for two to five days until the next departure. The handler holds the slot for the outbound, we finish the photographic report the afternoon before, and the aircraft is back on the apron by evening for pre-flight and fuelling.

The more complex case: the aircraft must fly a charter leg midway through the detail. We pause the work, the jet departs, returns the same day or the next, and we resume. That adds half a day to the overall schedule because we need to re-mask the cockpit, re-position lighting and confirm that nothing has changed on the exterior—bird strikes, new chips, fuel stains—since the last session. It is manageable, but it requires the handler to guarantee hangar re-entry and a firm slot for the return leg.

If the aircraft is cold-soaked and de-icing fluid is applied before departure, we inspect leading edges and the belly after it returns; Type I residue is water-soluble, but Type IV can leave a film that interferes with polish adhesion. All of this goes into the coordination call before you confirm the booking. We ask for the current tech log status, any deferred items that affect access panels, and whether the avionics will be live or dark during interior work. The goal is zero surprises and an aircraft that leaves on time.