Aviation catering — Hīt, Iraq

Wide-body airline catering, VIP & private jet catering at Hīt (ORAA / IQA)

IQA (IATA) · ORAA (ICAO)

A wide-body reaching the end of a 4,000 metre runway can turn here and hold its full three-cabin load without a weight trim on the uplift, which is what the reference code at Hīt is built to take. Inflight catering, in-flight catering and aviation catering move off one ops desk and one kitchen, and the same hi-loader that boards the forward cabins clears wide-body galley height on every rotation, sealed at the ramp and signed at the door.

A catering hi-loader raised to the forward galley door of a wide-body on stand, the platform level with the doorway and the truck squared up beneath it.
4,000 m
Longest runway
Wide-body
Largest aircraft handled
3
Runways
01
Wide-body & private jet
From a light jet to a full 777, one caterer, one standard
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
A catering hi-loader raised to the aft galley door of a wide-body on stand, its platform level with the doorway and a second truck waiting below.

On the apron — Hīt

Inflight catering loaded to galley height at IQA

Everything below is what we measure at this station — distances, windows, who signs what.

Airport catering order window at Hīt, Iraq

Aircraft catering handover at the galley door, Hīt airport

Ramp access is what separates a delivered tray from a boarded one, and at Hīt the sealed cart moves under our own escort from kitchen to stand rather than waiting on a curb. Each catering uplift is logged the moment it leaves the kitchen door and again the moment it crosses into the aircraft, so the record runs unbroken across the apron. Nothing is handed off at the foot of the stairs: the hi-loader takes it to galley height and the crew signs there.

Four branded catering carts latched side by side in an aircraft galley, each door closed on a coloured seal.

Between our kitchen and the stand at Hīt sit screening, an escort convoy and the ordinary traffic of a working apron, and the catering uplift is planned against the worst version of all three rather than the average one. A galley catering load that has to hold its temperature through a security check is a different problem from one that simply drives across open ramp, so the route and the timing are set before the cart is sealed, not adjusted afterwards. Temperature is logged at the seal and again at the handover, and the signature that closes the load is the same one that opened it.

One coordinator carries the seal from the kitchen door to the signature at the aircraft.

Airline catering companies' production standard at ORAA / IQA

Several hundred identical salad bowls lined up in rows across a stainless bench, each closed with its own dressing pot, a cook portioning at the far end.

Pilot meals and cleared production crews for Hīt (IQA)

Hīt is provisioned from a facility built around hot production, pastry, a cold larder and a protocol cell held under one roof, which is what lets a delegation order and a scheduled rotation run through the same kitchen without either one waiting on the other. Airport catering at IQA is planned to that structure rather than to a single production line, and airport catering in Iraq more broadly follows the same HACCP standard regardless of which cabin the tray is destined for. The flight kitchen at IQA treats a cold larder output and a hot tray set as two separate disciplines under one roof, not one line doing both.

The team that handles government flight catering at this station is the same named crew on every rotation, not a rotating pool assigned on the day. Security clearance is on file before the first delegation lands, each member sits on the access list for the apron and the kitchen alike, and the household service standard they work to travels with the paperwork rather than being reissued each time. A sealed uplift leaves under that same team's signature, whatever the mission on the schedule.

Halal airline meals and special meals at Hīt

Royal flight catering standards per cabin at Hīt, Iraq

Menus at Hīt are written to the cabin and the mission rather than to a single fixed list, so a First and VVIP set differs from a Business tray run and both differ again from a group charter loaded for volume. Inflight catering in Hīt draws where it can on produce sourced from the wider region, dairy, orchard fruit and river fish worked into a seasonal frame rather than a single fixed carte. Allergen, halal, kosher and medical requirements are documented per passenger and per cabin, produced on a line kept apart from the main run, and every tray is labelled against that record before it is sealed. The result is a specification that moves with the mission, not a catalogue printed once and left unchanged.

Smoked salmon and cucumber ribbons piled on a herb rösti with soft cheese and capers, herb oil dotted around the rim.

First & VVIP cabins

First and VVIP cabins at Hīt draw on VIP flight catering plated to a written specification rather than a fixed menu card, with caviar and à-la-carte service available on request. Every dish leaves the kitchen filed against the standing order for that cabin, so a repeat rotation is served to the same record as the first.

A complete tray set on a black tray: a hot egg and ham dish, cut fruit, breads, a pastry, a set yoghurt and a portion of preserve.

Business cabins

Business cabins at ORAA run on multi-choice hot service built to cabin specification, boxed in oven-ready formats sized to the galley fitted on the aircraft. Crew meals in Hīt travel in their own sealed sets, cabin crew meals and pilot meals boxed separately and rostered so neither queue holds up the other.

Diet.

Protocol & dietary

Protocol and dietary sets at IQA are documented per passenger before the tray is produced: household, religious and medical requirements, halal and kosher meals, and the full range of IATA special meal codes. Each set is produced on a line kept apart from the main run and sealed there, so inflight catering at Hīt carries the same record from kitchen to cabin regardless of how narrow the requirement is.

The three books

A tray set on a stainless steel bench: a plated fish fillet with rice and vegetables, a bread roll with herb butter, and a berry dessert in a glass.

01

Royal & Government Flights

Royal households · government · state operations

  • Plated service · First to main cabin
  • Protocol handling · security clearance
Chefs plating a long line of identical main courses under heat lamps, with loaded catering trolleys waiting at the end of the line.

02

Charter & Commercial

Charter · ACMI · group · scheduled · ad hoc

  • 400 passengers · one uplift
  • HACCP cold chain, logged to the galley door
A business jet cabin credenza laid with chilled sparkling wine in a bucket, bottled drinks, a nut dish and folded napkins on a silver tray, beside a single passenger seat.

03

Private Jet

Business jet · VVIP charter · flight departments

  • From 8 covers · plated forward
  • Reheat sequence specified per dish

Compliance

Aircraft catering food safety at Hīt, Iraq

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.

Flight catering airside delivery at ORAA

Hīt carries scheduled, charter and government movements across three runways built to a wide-body reference code, which means a delegation's documentation load and a charter's volume load can both be on the ramp the same week without either being treated as the exception. A peak wave of arrivals is a capacity problem worked through sequencing, not through cutting corners on any single load; a repeat rotation is a repetition problem solved by keeping one specification on file rather than rebuilding it each time.

The uplift travels from our kitchen to the stand under airside delivery, hi-loader lifted to galley height so nothing is set down at the foot of the aircraft, with our own crew on the ramp for the handover. Airline catering at this station and inflight catering in Iraq more broadly are run off that same route, and aviation catering at ORAA is planned stand by stand rather than as a single generic run. Airport catering at ORAA and in-flight catering at Hīt both draw on the same sealed-cart method regardless of which cabin or which mission is on the schedule that day.

One coordinator holds the file for each rotation, from sealed cart to signed handover, whatever the mix of traffic on the ramp that day.

Airline, charter and VVIP catering at IQA

Ops gov.
01
Government and state flight catering at Hīt
A wide-body reference code at this station means a head of state aircraft is worked to the same stand capacity as a scheduled service, never treated as an overflow case. Government flight catering here covers state visits and official delegations: the protocol file is documented per passenger, staff are security-cleared, and the uplift is sealed before it leaves the kitchen.
Government & state flights →
Royal vvip food.
02
Royal and VVIP flight catering at ORAA
A wide-body reference code here, so private airliners — BBJ, ACJ and wide-body VIP configurations — are handled on the same stands as scheduled traffic rather than a separate apron. Royal flight catering at this station holds a written household specification on file between movements, with royal household dietary requirements and halal VIP sets produced against that same record on request.
Royal & VVIP flights →
Menus card charter comm copie.
03
Charter and ACMI flight catering at IQA
With a wide-body reference code across three runways, our kitchen loads a full three-cabin uplift onto ACMI and wet-lease charter aircraft without downsizing the specification for a one-off movement. Charter flight catering in Iraq and charter flight catering at Hīt both cover group movements and special missions, counted against the loading sheet and staged in galley order before the hi-loader lifts.
Wide-body charter →
A complete tray set on a black tray: a plated fish fillet with rice and vegetables, a seeded roll with herb butter and a berry dessert in a glass.
04
Airline and ad hoc catering at Hīt
With three runways built to a wide-body reference code, Hīt takes scheduled and ad hoc airline catering on the same ramp without one displacing the other. Outstation catering, diversion catering and technical stop catering run off one duty roster here, AOG included, across a multi-leg rotation, with crew meals in Iraq and crew meals at ORAA boxed to the same roster as the passenger load.
Commercial airlines →
Pvj1.
05
Private jet and FBO catering at ORAA
The GA apron at Hīt sits within reach of the same kitchen that loads the wide-body stands, so private jet catering at Hīt runs on the identical cold chain rather than a separate light run. FBO catering reaches the FBOs on the field and the GA terminal directly, business aviation catering and business jet catering both carried on the same paperwork as an airline uplift.
Private jets →

Inflight catering trusted by operators at ORAA

Operators on commercial aviation catering at ORAA / IQA

Pexels planespotter geneva 1877406873 30173442.

Government flight department

Pexels planespotter geneva 1877406873 33102291.

Royal household

Pexels drinu cutajar 347725497 28787085.

Charter operator

Images (1).

Scheduled airline

“Our flight at Hīt (IQA/ORAA) required galley ready meals with clear service-by-service organization. Presentation stayed good while the setup remained practical for a fast aircraft turnaround. Good attention to the operational side of catering. Updates were timely and the final delivery matched the confirmation we had from operations. That made the turnaround easier for both the flight crew and the team on the ground.”

★★★★★

Scheduled airline

Jean — Turnaround Coordinator

“We used the team for ad hoc catering at Hīt (IQA/ORAA) during a tight turnaround. The team stayed in contact with operations, adjusted to the new timing, and kept the aircraft handover simple. We appreciated how easy the coordination was. The final handover was simple and there was nothing for the crew to correct before departure.”

★★★★☆

Private jet operator

Ryan — Private Flight Coordinator

“We used the team for private jet menu at Hīt (IQA/ORAA) on a VIP trip. The food arrived fresh and well presented, with clear labels and packaging that actually worked in our galley. Reliable, responsive, and easy to work with. Responses were quick whenever we had a question, which helped us keep the flight on schedule.”

★★★★★

Government flight department

Marius — Mission Support Manager

Aviation catering data for Hīt (ORAA / IQA)

DatumValue
Longest runway4,000 m
Runways3
Aerodrome reference codewide-body
ICAOORAA

Business jet catering questions at Hīt

Crew meals, lead times and access at Hīt

What operations gets asked every week about Hīt.

Ask operations directly →
Does an order at ORAA need to be placed a set time in advance, and how late can the specification change?

Every rotation is opened against a written specification as soon as the schedule is confirmed, and the lead time depends on cabin count and mission type rather than a single fixed cut-off. Last minute airline catering is handled through the same duty roster that covers ad hoc and diversion work, so a late change is worked as a revision to the open file rather than a new order.

Are halal, kosher and the IATA special meal codes produced for flights through Hīt?

The coordinator on each rotation logs every halal, kosher and special meal request against the passenger manifest before production starts. Special meals are produced on a line kept apart from the main run and sealed separately, so the SPML record travels with the tray rather than being reconstructed at the aircraft.

Where is private jet catering delivered for aircraft based at Hīt airport?

The same handover record used for an airline uplift accompanies every delivery to the FBOs on the field and the GA terminal. FBO catering runs on that record end to end, so a business aviation movement is documented exactly as a scheduled one is.

What does airline catering delivery look like at IQA, and how does the uplift reach the aircraft?

We move the sealed cart from the kitchen to the stand under airside delivery and lift it to galley height with a hi-loader, so nothing is set down at the foot of the aircraft. The crew signs at the galley door, closing the same record that was opened when the cart was sealed.

When are VIP, VVIP and government flights catered at ORAA, and under what protocol?

When a delegation, a royal household or a VVIP movement is confirmed, the file is opened with security clearance on record and a named coordinator assigned before the first tray is produced. VIP flight catering and government flight catering both run to that same protocol, whatever the mission on the schedule.

Aviation catering across the Hīt region

TQD / ORAT
Al Habbaniyah
Iraq · 118 km from Hīt
Airline & VIP flight catering →
BGW / ORBI
Baghdad
Iraq · 176 km from Hīt
Airline & VIP flight catering →
RQW
Qayyarah
Iraq · 229 km from Hīt
Airline & VIP flight catering →

Charter flight catering quote for ORAA

Request a quote

Send us your catering needs for IQA

Hīt (IQA / ORAA)

Give us the aircraft and what goes on board. A coordinator comes back with a quote for Hīt, 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

Step 1 of 4 · Flight

Flight

The airport is already filled in. Change it if the uplift boards elsewhere.

Search by city, IATA or ICAO.
Local time at the airport of delivery.
Hi-loader required
Offloading

One question. Answer no and the step closes itself.

Offloading required
Order

What goes on board, and for how many. Attach a loading sheet if you hold one.

Order from one of the three menu books

Give the detail per cabin if there is one.
Accepted formats: PDF, JPG, PNG, Word, Excel, CSV, TXT — up to 4 MB per file.
Contact

One name, one desk. We reply to it and nowhere else.

Uplift at Hīt (IQA)