01
Wide-body & private jet
From a light jet to a full 777, one caterer, one standard
Aviation catering — Hefei, China
Airline catering, VIP flight catering and private jet catering — Hefei (ZSOF / HFE)
HFE (IATA) · ZSOF (ICAO)
The wide-body reference code covers the widebody stand at Hefei, which is why in-flight catering here boards through the hi-loader rather than at the foot of the aircraft. AERO GOURMET runs inflight catering for scheduled, charter, VIP, government and private jet movements out of Hefei, with inflight catering carried straight from the kitchen onto the galley door.
3,400 m
Longest runway
Wide-body
Largest aircraft handled
1
Runways
02
VIP at any volume
8 First covers or 400 passengers across three cabins, same execution
03
24/7 order desk
Ad hoc, AOG and same-day uplift answered around the clock
04
Multi-leg coordination
One loading sheet, every leg of your rotation
On the apron — Hefei
Aviation catering with ramp access at Hefei airport
Everything below is what we measure at this station — distances, windows, who signs what.
Airport catering order window at Hefei (HFE)
Flight catering sealed and logged to the stand at ZSOF
The loading window at Hefei runs from the sealed cart leaving our kitchen to the signature at the galley door, and every stage of it is timed rather than guessed at. Ramp access is held on our own badges, so the cart crosses the apron without waiting on a third party's clearance. That sequence, not a promised hour, is what a rotation at Hefei is actually booked against.
Between our kitchen and the stand at Hefei sit screening, an escort and apron traffic, and the chain of custody is written to cover the worst of the three rather than the best. Galley catering only leaves the kitchen sealed, and the seal is checked again before the hi-loader raises it to the door. A catering uplift logged this way carries a temperature reading at sealing and a second one at handover, both against the same rotation.
One coordinator, one sealed cart, one signature: nothing changes hands unrecorded.
Airline food supplier kitchen serving Hefei, China
Cargo crew meals produced to the same standard at Hefei airport
The flight kitchen that provisions HFE runs hot production, pastry, a cold larder and a protocol line under one roof, built to feed the wide-body reference code held at Hefei rather than a lighter mix of traffic. Airport catering at ZSOF is planned from that single site, with HACCP governing every stage from receiving to the sealed cart. Airport catering at HFE therefore starts and ends inside the same building, not across a chain of subcontractors.
The team that handles government flight catering at ZSOF is the same named crew on every rotation, not a rotating pool drawn in for the day. Security clearance is held on file for each of them, each is on the access list before a delegation's aircraft is even confirmed on stand, and each is trained to the household standards a royal or state movement carries with it. That continuity is what lets a sealed uplift move from kitchen to galley with one signature covering the whole chain.
Kosher inflight catering and dietary sets at ZSOF / HFE
VVIP catering written per mission at Hefei (HFE)
The wide-body reference code held at Hefei sets the cabin mix this kitchen writes for, from a single main-deck configuration up to a full three-cabin layout on the same rotation. Menus move week to week with the season and the produce coming out of the surrounding province, while the tray standard behind them stays fixed. Inflight catering at Hefei is documented at the level of the passenger rather than the cabin, so an allergen, a halal set or a medical diet travels on its own line from the kitchen to the galley. Nothing reaches the aircraft without that paperwork attached to it.
First & VVIP cabins
First and VVIP cabins routed through Hefei are plated to a written specification rather than a fixed menu card, with à-la-carte and caviar service available on request. VIP flight catering here is filed against the standing order before it ever reaches the galley, so the presentation matches what was agreed weeks earlier.
Business cabins
Business cabins at ZSOF take multi-choice hot service in oven-ready formats sized to the galley fitted on the aircraft, boxed as tray sets rather than plated individually. Crew meals, cabin crew meals and pilot meals are boxed separately to the duty roster, so the flight deck and the cabin crew each draw from their own set.
Protocol & dietary
Household, religious and medical requirements are documented per passenger at Hefei, covering halal and kosher sets alongside the full range of IATA special meal codes. Inflight catering built to those codes is produced on a separate line inside the kitchen and sealed before it leaves that line, so it never crosses paths with the standard tray run.
The three books
01
Royal & Government Flights
Royal households · government · state operations
- Plated service · First to main cabin
- Protocol handling · security clearance
02
Charter & Commercial
Charter · ACMI · group · scheduled · ad hoc
- 400 passengers · one uplift
- HACCP cold chain, logged to the galley door
03
Private Jet
Business jet · VVIP charter · flight departments
- From 8 covers · plated forward
- Reheat sequence specified per dish
Compliance
Aircraft catering under HACCP control at HFE
HACCP
HACCP cold chain
Produced in our own certified kitchens, temperature logged end to end.
Clearance
Cleared personnel
Security-cleared staff, badged airside vehicles, escorted where the stand requires it.
Custody
Sealed chain of custody
Carts sealed at the kitchen, seals verified and handovers signed at the aircraft.
Allergens
Documented allergen sets
Allergen, halal, kosher and medical requirements documented per uplift and per passenger.
Stand-side catering uplift at ZSOF
Hefei carries scheduled, charter and government traffic across a single wide-body stand, which means a delegation and a peak departure wave can land on the same rotation and each has to be worked as its own documentation and capacity problem. Airline catering here is planned stand by stand rather than by terminal, because the one stand rated for a widebody sets the pace for everything routed through it.
The uplift reaches the aircraft by hi-loader from our kitchen to the galley door, with ramp access held on our own badges rather than borrowed from a third party. Aviation catering at HFE and in-flight catering at ZSOF are worked off the same ops desk, so a diversion or a late change is handled by the crew already on the apron rather than one called in afterwards.
What we commit to at every rotation out of Hefei is one coordinator, sealed carts and a signed handover, so airport catering in China at this station carries a single name against the load from kitchen to stand.
Commercial aviation catering and VVIP missions at Hefei (HFE)
01
Government and state flight catering at HFE
The 3400 m runway at Hefei takes the aircraft types a state movement typically flies, which is what lets government flight catering run here without a length constraint on the mission. Delegations and official movements travel with a protocol file documented per passenger, security-cleared staff on the load, and a head of state aircraft handled to a sealed uplift before it leaves our kitchen.
Government & state flights →
02
Royal and VVIP flight catering at Hefei
A private airliner configured for a royal household is one of the aircraft the 3400 m runway at Hefei is built to receive, which is the reason royal flight catering can run here on the same stand as a scheduled widebody. BBJ, ACJ and wide-body VVIP movements are held to a written household specification kept on file between rotations, with halal and other household requirements produced on request.
Royal & VVIP flights →
03
Charter and ACMI flight catering at ZSOF
On the single wide-body stand at Hefei, the aerodrome reference code sets the ceiling for what a charter movement can bring on one rotation. Charter flight catering here covers ACMI and wet-lease operators, group movements and special missions, with charter flight catering in Hefei counted against the loading sheet and staged in the order the galleys are laid out.
Wide-body charter →
04
Airline and ad hoc catering at HFE
The wide-body reference code held at Hefei lets our crews load a full multi-class cabin set on the single stand rated for it, and we run that stand for scheduled carriers and for ad hoc work alike. Ad hoc airline catering covers a diversion or a technical stop the same way it covers a booked rotation, outstation catering and diversion catering following the same duty roster as AOG across a multi-leg day, with technical stop catering held to the same tray standard throughout.
Commercial airlines →
05
Private jet and FBO catering at Hefei
Sharing the one wide-body stand with scheduled and charter movements means a business aviation arrival at Hefei has to be sequenced around them rather than worked on its own timetable. Private jet catering at HFE is delivered to the GA terminal and the FBOs on the field by our dedicated branch, on the same cold chain and business aviation catering paperwork as an airline uplift, business jet catering and FBO catering following one ops desk.
Private jets →
Charter flight catering reviewed at Hefei, China
Flight departments on jet catering at Hefei, China
Government flight department
Royal household
Charter operator
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Scheduled airline
“We requested tray set catering airline at Hefei (HFE/ZSOF) and the packaging worked very well onboard. Everything was labeled, compact, and easy to place directly into the aircraft without repacking on the ramp. Good attention to the operational side of catering. Responses were quick whenever we had a question, which helped us keep the flight on schedule.”
★★★★★Charter operator
Samuel — Charter Logistics Manager
“We used the team for outstation at Hefei (HFE/ZSOF) during a tight turnaround. The team stayed in contact with operations, adjusted to the new timing, and kept the aircraft handover simple. A very useful service for ad hoc flying. Responses were quick whenever we had a question, which helped us keep the flight on schedule.”
★★★★★Charter operator
Carla — Freighter Station Supervisor
“I ordered FBO catering for our departure from Hefei (HFE/ZSOF) and was very happy with the service. Everything was easy to check and load, and the passenger requests were prepared exactly as ordered. I would definitely order from them again. Responses were quick whenever we had a question, which helped us keep the flight on schedule.”
★★★★☆Scheduled airline
Jack — Trip Operations Coordinator
Station data for aviation catering at Hefei (ZSOF / HFE)
| Datum | Value |
|---|---|
| Longest runway | 3,400 m |
| Runways | 1 |
| Aerodrome reference code | wide-body |
| ICAO | ZSOF |
Airline catering services FAQ for ZSOF / HFE
Crew meals, lead times and access at ZSOF / HFE
What operations gets asked every week about Hefei.
Ask operations directly →Given the loading window at HFE, how far in advance does an order need to be placed, and how late can the specification still change?
There is a standing cycle for confirmed rotations, and a shorter one held open for last minute airline catering when a schedule shifts; the lead time depends on the cabin count and the specification on file.
ZSOF — are halal and kosher meals produced, and are the IATA special meal codes documented per passenger?
The sealed cart that leaves our kitchen carries halal, kosher and the full range of SPML codes on a separate line, each one logged against the passenger it is boxed for rather than against the flight as a whole.
Does Hefei take airline catering delivered airside, straight to the aircraft?
Every cart crosses the apron under escort and is raised to the galley door by hi-loader, so airside delivery here means boarding directly rather than handover at the foot of the aircraft.
At which point in a government or royal movement through Hefei Airport does the catering protocol take over?
The step that comes first is clearance: cleared staff and the protocol file are confirmed before the cart is packed, and VIP flight catering and government flight catering both move under that same sealed chain through to the galley.
Inflight catering at other airports near Hefei
BFU / ZSBB
Bengbu
China · 101 km from Hefei
Airline & VIP flight catering →
BFY / ZSBA
Bengbu
China · 131 km from Hefei
Airline & VIP flight catering →
FUG / ZSFY
Yingzhou
China · 153 km from Hefei
Airline & VIP flight catering →
Charter flight catering quote for HFE
Request a quote
Send us your catering needs for HFE
Hefei (HFE / ZSOF)
Give us the aircraft and what goes on board. A coordinator comes back with a quote for Hefei, not a brochure.
orders@aerogourmet.com · operations desk, 24/7
Four steps
Flight
Aircraft · stand · local time
Offloading
Return leg, if any
Order
Counts · menus · files
Contact
Who we come back to
Uplift at Hefei (HFE)