Aviation Catering

Aviation and inflight catering companies

Aviation caterers prepare food and drink to be loaded onto aircraft. There are two quite different businesses. Airline caterers run large production kitchens at major airports and supply very large numbers of meals to scheduled flights. Business aviation caterers work to individual orders from private jet crews, flight attendants and charter operators, delivering to FBOs at short notice and packaging food so it can be plated or reheated in a small galley.

When choosing a caterer, check that it has an approved food safety system and clear allergen labelling, that it can deliver airside or to your FBO at the times you fly, its minimum lead time for orders, and how it handles last-minute changes. Airlines should also ask about halal, kosher and special meal capability, and about onboard supply items such as tableware and linen.

Companies here are based across the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Hong Kong, Cyprus and Morocco, among others.

• Catrion, in-flight catering and integrated hospitality services in Saudi Arabia
• Qatar Aircraft Catering, Qatar Airways Group subsidiary preparing airline meals
• LSG Sky Chefs, airline caterer of the LSG Group with locations worldwide
• Gate Gourmet, airline catering brand of gategroup, headquartered in Switzerland
• Emirates Flight Catering, Dubai airline, VIP and events caterer
• Rudy's Inflight Catering, Teterboro caterer known for last-minute orders
• DeliSky GmbH, Swiss platform and app for ordering VIP inflight catering for private jets

Catering is usually arranged together with ground handling at the departure airport, and charter operators often order it on behalf of passengers when booking private aircraft charter. Cabin cleaning between flights is listed under aircraft cleaning and detailing.