01
Wide-body & private jet
From a light jet to a full 777, one caterer, one standard
Aviation catering — Istanbul, Turkey
VIP & private jet catering with airline catering at Istanbul (LTFM / IST)
IST (IATA) · LTFM (ICAO)
With six runways and a 4100 m longest runway rated for wide-body operations, Istanbul boards multi-class widebodies without a stand constraint on the rotation. Inflight catering here runs through hi-loader uplift straight to galley height, and in-flight catering for scheduled, charter and VIP movements is worked off one ops desk, airside, so an aircraft this size clears its full tray load without leaving the ramp.
4,100 m
Longest runway
Wide-body
Largest aircraft handled
6
Runways
2
FBOs on station
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 — Istanbul
Hi-loader aviation catering on the LTFM / IST apron
Everything below is what we measure at this station — distances, windows, who signs what.
Inflight catering order window at Istanbul
Aircraft catering sealed from kitchen to galley at Istanbul
The catering uplift at Istanbul moves through a fixed sequence rather than a guess: sealed at the kitchen, escorted airside, cleared onto the stand and boarded to galley door. Ramp access is held on our own badges rather than handed off at the apron edge, so the convoy answers to one schedule from seal to signature. Cold chain and paperwork travel together the whole way.
Between our kitchen and the stand at LTFM sit screening, escort and apron traffic across six runways of live movement, and the galley catering plan is built to hold against the worst of that traffic rather than the average of it. Ramp access stays on our own chain of custody the whole way, never handed to a third party at the kerb. Temperatures are logged when the load is sealed at the kitchen and logged again at the aircraft, and the catering uplift closes on a signature that ties both readings to the same cart.
One coordinator carries the load from the kitchen seal to the aircraft signature.
Airline food supplier kitchen serving Istanbul airport
Pilot meals and cleared production crews for IST
Airport catering at IST runs from a flight kitchen built to feed wide-body rotations rather than a single narrow-body turn, holding hot production, pastry, a cold larder and a protocol line under one roof. Airport catering at LTFM is organised so that scale never comes at the cost of the tray specification a First or Business cabin expects on boarding. The whole production line runs to HACCP, which is the standard every cart leaving the flight kitchen at IST is checked against before it is sealed.
The team handling government flight catering at this kitchen is the same named crew on every rotation, not a rotating pool pulled in for the day. Security clearance is held on file for each of them, they sit on the access list for the airside route between the kitchen and the stand, and they are trained to household standards before a royal or state movement is ever loaded here. That same crew carries the sealed uplift at LTFM from cart to cabin without handing the chain of custody to anyone else on the ramp.
Halal airline meals and special meals at Istanbul (IST)
Royal flight catering standards per cabin at LTFM
AERO GOURMET writes menus to the cabin, the mission and the season rather than to a single fixed list, and inflight catering at this kitchen draws on produce sourced from across Turkey where the specification calls for it. Dairy, orchard fruit, olive oil and fish move through the cold larder alongside the standard tray build, adjusted to what a First cabin, a Business cabin or a full charter rotation actually needs. Every set is written against a documented allergen, halal, kosher or medical requirement, labelled per passenger and per cabin before it ever reaches the cart. Inflight catering in Turkey is built this way at every station on the network, not just where the volume is highest.
First & VVIP cabins
First and VVIP cabins at Istanbul are plated to a written specification rather than a fixed set list, with caviar and à-la-carte service available on request for the mission at hand. VIP flight catering at IST is filed against the standing order so the same presentation repeats across a multi-leg rotation without a rewrite each time.
Business cabins
Business cabins at LTFM take multi-choice hot service built to galley-ready tray sets, sized to the aircraft on the stand rather than a generic hold. Crew meals at Istanbul are boxed separately from the passenger load, with cabin crew meals and pilot meals set apart on the roster, and crew meals in Istanbul follow the same cold chain as the cabins they support.
Protocol & dietary
Protocol and dietary requirements at LTFM are documented per passenger, covering household, religious and medical needs alongside halal and kosher sets built to the full IATA special meal code list. Inflight catering at LTFM produces these on a separate line from the standard tray build and seals them before that line ever meets the main galley load.
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
HACCP and sealed transfer for aircraft catering at Istanbul airport
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 LTFM / IST
Istanbul carries scheduled, charter and government traffic across six runways, and that mix turns catering into three separate problems at once: a delegation is a documentation problem, a wave of connecting departures is a capacity problem, and a repeat charter rotation is a repetition problem that has to hold its tray standard on every leg. Airline catering at LTFM is planned against all three rather than against a single peak.
The uplift reaches the aircraft here by hi-loader, straight from the flight kitchen to galley height, with airside delivery to the stand rather than a handover at the kerb. In-flight catering at IST moves on ground handling coordinated directly with the ramp, and aviation catering at LTFM keeps the same route whether the aircraft is on a scheduled turn or a one-off charter. Airport catering in Istanbul is planned stand by stand, with ramp access held on our own badges the whole way.
On every rotation here we commit to one coordinator, sealed carts and a signed handover at the aircraft.
Airline, charter and VVIP catering at LTFM / IST
01
Government and state flight catering at IST
A 4100 m runway clears the aircraft a head of state delegation typically flies, which sets the loading plan before the protocol file is even opened. Government flight catering at Istanbul then runs on that file: documented per passenger, handled by security-cleared staff, with the uplift sealed before it leaves the kitchen.
Government & state flights →
02
Royal and VVIP flight catering at Istanbul
Our crews load the wide-body reference code held here against a written household specification kept on file between movements, rather than rebuilding it for each visit. Royal flight catering at this station covers private airliners including BBJ, ACJ and wide-body VVIP configurations, with halal and other household dietary requirements produced on request.
Royal & VVIP flights →
03
Charter and ACMI flight catering at LTFM
Wide-body reference code stands here carry a full three-cabin uplift without splitting the load across two positions, which is what a charter rotation needs on turnaround. Charter flight catering at Istanbul serves ACMI and wet-lease operators, group movements and special missions, and charter flight catering at LTFM is staged in the order the galleys are laid out, counted against the loading sheet.
Wide-body charter →
04
Airline and ad hoc catering at IST
Six runways and a wide-body reference code mean a diverted or delayed rotation still finds a stand rather than a queue, and that is what ad hoc airline catering at IST is built to answer. Carriers running this station as an outstation draw on outstation catering, diversion catering and technical stop catering off one duty roster, AOG included, across a multi-leg rotation into and out of Turkey.
Commercial airlines →
05
Private jet and FBO catering at Istanbul
A BBJ or ACJ-class aircraft on the wide-body stands here draws on the same reference code clearance as a scheduled widebody, which is what lets business aviation move through the FBOs on the field and the GA terminal without a separate ramp process. Private jet catering at LTFM, FBO catering and business aviation catering for the GA terminal all run on the same cold chain and the same paperwork as a business jet catering order for an airline uplift.
Private jets →
FBOs at Istanbul
bilen air services / execujet
celebi platinum services
Charter flight catering reviewed at Istanbul
Operators on commercial aviation catering at Istanbul airport
Government flight department
Royal household
Charter operator
Scheduled airline
“We needed an airline catering partner at Istanbul (IST/LTFM) and the support was excellent. The response time was good and we did not have to manage several local suppliers ourselves. It made the station much easier to manage. From an operational point of view, the service was easy to manage and required very little follow-up.”
★★★★☆Private jet operator
Clara — Cabin Services Manager
“Our team needed airline catering in Istanbul for a short-notice flight at IST/LTFM. The menu selection was good and all special requests were clearly identified. We had a smooth experience from order to delivery. Updates were timely and the final delivery matched the confirmation we had from operations. Responses were quick whenever we had a question, which helped us keep the flight on schedule.”
★★★★★Charter operator
Tomas — Operations Controller
“For our flight from Istanbul (IST/LTFM), the cabin order included multiple special meals. The order arrived complete and the special requests were handled with the same presentation as the regular meals. We were happy with the accuracy of the order. The order was complete on arrival and easy for us to check before closing the doors.”
★★★★★Scheduled airline
Faris — Airport Duty Manager
Station data for airport catering at Istanbul (LTFM / IST)
| Datum | Value |
|---|---|
| Longest runway | 4,100 m |
| Runways | 6 |
| Aerodrome reference code | wide-body |
| ICAO | LTFM |
Business jet catering questions at Istanbul (IST)
Diversion catering and ramp questions at Istanbul (IST)
What operations gets asked every week about Istanbul.
Ask operations directly →What does airline catering cost at Istanbul?
We price every quotation against cabin count, specification and loading window rather than a fixed list, so airline catering cost at Istanbul depends on the rotation itself; the desk comes back with a figure once those three are known.
Is there a lead time for orders at IST, and how late can a specification change?
The coordinator on duty at IST holds the lead time against the loading window rather than a fixed cut-off, and for how far in advance to book we ask for as much notice as the rotation allows; last minute airline catering is still handled where the kitchen schedule has room.
When can private jet catering reach an aircraft on the LTFM field?
Once a movement is confirmed at the GA terminal or one of the FBOs on the field, private jet catering is boarded on the same cold chain and paperwork as an airline uplift, with FBO catering following the same sealed-cart route from our kitchen.
Which protocol governs VIP, VVIP and government flight catering in Istanbul?
The hi-loader route from our sealed kitchen cart to the galley door is the same one used for a scheduled cabin, and VIP flight catering and government flight catering in Istanbul both run on a documented protocol file, cleared staff and a signed handover at the aircraft.
Commercial aviation catering near Istanbul
ISL / LTBA
Istanbul
Turkey · 35 km from Istanbul
Airline & VIP flight catering →
SAW / LTFJ
Pendik
Turkey · 64 km from Istanbul
Airline & VIP flight catering →
TEQ / LTBU
Çorlu
Turkey · 70 km from Istanbul
Airline & VIP flight catering →
Inflight catering quote for LTFM / IST
Request a quote
Send us your catering needs for IST
Istanbul (IST / LTFM)
Give us the aircraft and what goes on board. A coordinator comes back with a quote for Istanbul, 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 Istanbul (IST)