HACCP cold chain
Temperature, batch and time logged.
Airline catering — ad hoc, outstation, diversion
Airline catering away from your own flight kitchen
Airline catering wherever your flight kitchen isn’t. Ad hoc uplifts, outstation catering, diversions, technical stops and AOG — galley-ready tray sets and meal boxes delivered airside, through one ops desk, at 3,000+ airports.
24/7
Ops desk, every day
350
Trays per uplift
Three
Cabins on one uplift
3,000+
Airports on network
Commercial airline catering, produced at the station and loaded airside
Commercial airline catering, here, is the uplift we produce at the station itself: a one-off rotation, a route flown three times a week, a leg added to a schedule already printed. The specification is the one you run at base; what changes is the postcode.
OCC controllers, station managers and duty officers place it, usually against a flight that fell outside the plan. Delivery runs airside through the station handler with badged vehicles, and a hi-loader lifts the uplift to the door — that is how a wide-body is provisioned to capacity rather than to whatever fits on a tail-lift.
Menus & kitchens
Three cabins, three specifications, one production line
Our chefs write a distinct specification for each cabin and cost it per cover before a single tray is produced. The First menu and the main-cabin menu are different products of the same kitchen, the same food-safety regime and the same delivery window. The book behind this page reaches the galley-ready end of that range: tray sets and sealed meal boxes cabin by cabin, crew meals to your own specification, each with the cold chain it is logged against.
Is this you?
Off-base station
Produced on the field
Short notice
Quoted on the call
Diversion or AOG
Provisioned on the ground
What this operation requires
before stand
Flight number taken
on order
Formats against galley
in production
Crew meals counted
at handover
Airside delivery arranged
on stand
Purser signs the sheet
any time
AOG uplift taken
Aircraft we provision away from base
What is on the stand decides the format long before the passenger count does. A door above tail-lift height needs a hi-loader; a short galley needs boxes rather than trolleys; an aircraft going nowhere for six hours needs food that is still right when it finally does. These are the three cases the desk sizes an uplift against.
AWide-body long-haul
A340, 767, 777 and 787 rotations provisioned across three cabins in one movement, boarded at galley height so the full main-cabin count goes on board rather than part of it.
BNarrow-body rotations
Short-sector and regional aircraft on a tight turnaround, provisioned in sealed boxes and half-trolleys sized to the galley rather than to the order form.
CDiverted & grounded aircraft
An airframe stopped where nobody planned it, with passengers and crew still on the manifest. Provisioned in formats that hold their standard through an open-ended wait.
How the operation runs
The working sequence for an ad hoc uplift, counted back from departure and compressed when the flight demands it. A diversion collapses this into hours; the order of the steps survives the compression.
T−24 h
Order taken: flight number, ETA, passenger and crew count, dietary split.
T−12 h
Formats confirmed against the galley on board. Handler and stand access requested.
T−6 h
Production in an HACCP kitchen. Special meal codes counted separately.
T−4 h
Carts sealed, temperature logged, loading sheet issued.
T−90 min
Handler escorts the vehicle to the stand; hi-loader raised where the door needs it.
T−0
On the aircraft and stowed to the cabin plan; the purser signs the sheet.
Where most caterers stop
The usual alternative to an outstation order is a local hotel delivery and a degree of hope — inflight catering in name only. The table sets that against a galley-ready uplift on the same aircraft, at the same station.
What an outstation order usually costs you
| What this operation needs | Typical VIP caterer | Us |
|---|---|---|
| Catering at a station with no flight kitchen | Local hotel order | Galley-ready uplift |
| Same specification station to station | Whatever is local | One specification |
| Diversion at three hours’ notice | Best effort | 24/7 ops desk |
| One invoice for the network | One per station | One account |
Proof
One specification, every station
The same menus, presentation and HACCP food-safety standard apply at every station on the network, rotation after rotation — including the stations served through the group network.
Galley-ready
Tray sets and oven-ready formats.
Airside delivery
Badged vehicles, station handler.
Special meal codes
Counted against the loading sheet.
Airports & other operations
Stations are published as their airport pages clear editorial review, a batch at a time. The operations listed beside them run out of the same kitchens and the same handler relationships.
Where we handle these operations
Other operations we handle
Frequently asked
Questions we get from airline ops
Ask operations directly →Can you cater a flight at a station that is new to us?
Yes, and that is the case this operation exists for. The order is placed through one ops desk, produced at or near the station, and delivered airside for the departing sector — to the same specification as a contracted rotation, not to a local approximation of it. You give us the flight number, the ETA and the counts; the desk confirms the format against the galley on board and comes back with a price for that uplift rather than a tariff to interpret.
How fast can you provision a diversion or an AOG?
The ops desk answers 24/7 and works to the time actually available rather than to a standard lead time. Format is the lever: sealed meal boxes go together fast and survive an open-ended wait, while full tray sets are used when the ground time allows for them. Crew are counted first because they are the constraint on the next sector. The window we quote is the window we hold, and you hear it before the aircraft is on stand.
Can you serve all three cabins on a single turnaround?
Yes. Full First and Business service loads alongside main-cabin trays on one uplift, each cabin produced to its own specification and timed to the rotation rather than to the kitchen. Counts are reconciled per cabin against the loading sheet before the carts are sealed. Hi-loader boarding is what keeps this to one movement on a wide-body: the carts reach the door at galley height, so the turnaround is not spent carrying trolleys up a set of steps.
How do you keep the standard consistent across stations?
One written specification governs every station: the same menus, the same presentation, the same HACCP food-safety regime, rotation after rotation. Where a station is served through the group network, the local unit produces against that document and the result is checked with the same temperature and allergen paperwork we use in our own kitchens. The station changes and the paperwork does not, which is the only version of consistency an ops team can actually audit.
Do you provision crew meals as well as passengers?
Yes, on the same uplift and to their own specification, including a different meal for each pilot where your operating procedures require it. Flight deck and cabin crew are counted separately on the loading sheet so a late passenger change cannot consume the crew allocation. On long rotations the crew cycle is varied deliberately, because crew eat the same product far more often than any passenger on the aircraft does.
Airline catering — ad hoc, outstation, diversion
Tell us the flight number, the ETA and the counts
The ops desk answers 24/7 and prices the uplift on the call, without a brochure in sight.
Ad hoc uplift, any station