Catering to your aircraft in Lubumbashi.
At 4,295 feet, Lubumbashi nights are cool and the traffic is copper-belt business. Former VIP flight attendants cook for your galley here and deliver at the aircraft, on your slot, 24/7.
We know the galley, the diet card and the 5 a.m. re-plate — because we lived them. So we built the caterer we always wished we could call.
Fourteen years on VIP and head-of-state cabins. Can plate for twelve in a G650 galley and still land it hot.
The one who reads every diet card twice. If it says no cross-contact, it means no cross-contact.
Answers at 5 a.m. when the leg moved overnight. Same-day swaps are her love language.
Anyone writing a private jet menu for Lubumbashi starts from the Katanga kitchen: bukari, the thick maize porridge; grilled fish from the lakes; chicken with palm oil, tomato and onion; pondu with cassava leaves. These are everyday dishes in Haut-Katanga and they travel well when packed for an oven.
Fresh produce shapes the inflight menu: mango, papaya and pineapple in season, avocados from the market, tomatoes and green vegetables from the plateau farms. Private jet food that uses them stays light for the cabin. Heavier local specialities such as goat stew or beans with smoked fish are packed in sealed trays with the sauce kept apart.
Snacking is local too: groundnuts roasted in the shell, fried plantain, cassava chips with pili-pili sauce in its own pot. These private jet snacks sit in the drawer without complaint. For a seated course we cook gourmet inflight meals around grilled fish, rice and a stewed vegetable, finished and plated by your crew.
A line of private jet platters rounds the table: tropical fruit, a cold cuts board, local breads and a mild cheese plate for guests who prefer cold service. All of it is a local speciality of Lubumbashi or close to it, marked clearly with the seat or guest label for the cabin.
Tail, pax, diets, timing. One message — no portal, no quote form. Answered at any hour, by a flight attendant.
Leak-proof boxes, marked by guest and restriction, with reheating times written on the lid.
Two minutes out of the drawer. Whatever you ordered for the crew comes in the same delivery, and one clean invoice follows.
Lubumbashi International sits at 4,295 ft in Haut-Katanga, and most of the business traffic through FZQA is mining and logistics charters. Private jet catering here is planned around cargo-heavy aircraft and short stays on the ramp, with the handover made at the FBO. For inflight catering on this airfield, we cook and pack for the galley you actually have, and the same rules apply to aviation catering for an executive crew as for a delegation. Business aviation catering at FBM also covers cabin crew meals, boxed and labelled apart from the guest trays.
Business jet catering at FZQA is shaped by mining executives and their guests. Corporate jet catering here means a brief built with the tail and the headcount: charter flight catering with VIP flight catering standards, luxury inflight catering where the plate needs it, a private jet chef who writes a bespoke menu for the trip.
Visits by officials to Haut-Katanga call for discretion and records. Our head of state flight catering and government flight catering follow what the protocol office approves; VIP aviation catering means named staff and sealed trays, and state visit aircraft catering is delivered to the aircraft by agreement.
Dietary requests at Lubumbashi are handled as a procedure adapted to the local kitchen. In Haut-Katanga, palm oil, groundnut sauces and fish stock turn up in dishes that look plain, which is where allergens hide, so each special meal is cooked and packed on its own. Kosher, halal, vegan and gluten free orders each get a separate board and box. Allergen free meals are sealed and marked by seat. Kids meals are simple and mild, and special meals for the cabin or the cockpit follow the same labelling.
A sheet per guest. Separate boards, separate boxes.
Sealed, certificate in the same box.
Their own menu, nothing to cut at altitude.
Vegan, low-carb, light — composed, never compromised.
For crew on a Lubumbashi turn, crew meals are on request and billed with the order. Flight crew meals suit rotations; pilot meals are packed so a first officer can eat them in the seat. Crew catering is kept apart, cockpit meals are marked, crew meal boxes close tightly, and different meals for pilots are available. Cabin crew meals are labelled for the galley team and kept away from guest trays.
FBO catering at Lubumbashi means delivery to the FBO or the aircraft, through your handling agent. Catering delivery to the FBO is arranged against the slot; the general aviation terminal gate and ground handling catering permissions are coordinated with the handling agent catering contact.
Aircraft at Lubumbashi range from light jets to large cabins, and the type decides how the food is loaded. A large-cabin galley catering order on a long-range jet may need the high loader at the door and a lifted cart, while a mid-size aircraft takes a hand-carried crate. Airside catering delivery at FZQA is organised with your handling agent, with a brief on door height and galley layout. Aircraft provisioning on the ramp is planned around the tail's galley, not the size of the order.
Mention it when you orderCertified, inspected, with cold-chain records filed against your trip.
Whichever terminal you park at, handover is at the aircraft, on your slot.
Allergen sheet per guest, halal and kosher on request, sealed and labelled.
Itemised and trip-report ready, sent after the leg.
Lubumbashi International is the airport of Haut-Katanga, the second city of the country and the hub of mining logistics. General aviation operates on the same ramp as commercial traffic, with a terminal that handles charters and delegations.
Airport catering for business aviation here is shaped by mining. Inflight catering and in-flight catering for executive jet catering clients means menus that suit a short turnaround; business aviation catering for general aviation operators is coordinated with FBO services and ground handling services at the terminal. Aviation catering, diplomatic flight catering and cabin crew meals all follow the same order process. A business aviation hub for the province.
Food import rules in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are enforced at the general aviation terminal. Meat, dairy and fresh produce brought from other countries can be held. Cooking in Lubumbashi means the meals are already in-country, which keeps the crew's paperwork short.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“With a tight boarding window to consider at FZQA, we needed a practical way to serve a cold lunch with cheese and fruit to 3 passengers. The order made inflight catering services feel manageable because the portion planning had been considered beforehand. I wanted clear identification on the salads; The Galley Girls made the packing arrangement easy to compare with the order. The sauces were also listed clearly, which made it easier to pass instructions between crew members during preparation.”
“It was the packing plan I cared about at FBM, with 9 servings of a cold lunch with cheese and fruit and two separate meal services to consider. We changed the quantities of side dishes, and The Galley Girls reflected the request in the final packing list. The canapés remained as originally requested, which was reassuring when we checked the latest version with operations. I want an inflight catering company to understand packing arrangement, and this order gave us a useful starting point.”
“Choosing a cheese board and savoury canapés for 4 people at Lubumbashi International Airport was straightforward; the challenge was making it work with limited fridge space. The Galley Girls confirmed the handover contact and identified the canapés, making the catering delivery easier for our team to track. The desserts went straight to the right colleague instead of circulating between several people during the turnaround. When comparing inflight catering companies, I would look closely at portion planning after this experience.”
Imported cheese, cured meat or fresh seafood meet the country's import controls, and that is where a Lubumbashi order gets dearer. A menu of local tilapia, chicken and tropical fruit stays simpler and cheaper to source. The cost of private jet catering here follows what is cooked in Haut-Katanga versus what has to be brought in.
Most crews think of the way back last. Give us the return departure, the seat labels and any restrictions, and we plan it against that slot as a separate line. Customs on imported items affect the lead time far more than local produce does, and last-minute orders are handled.
With nobody in the cabin, the question at the general aviation terminal is what the aircraft carries in, not what we cook. Meals prepared in Lubumbashi are already in-country, so there is nothing to declare. Food uplifted elsewhere can be inspected on arrival.
For an official party we name the team, mark trays by seat number and keep allergen records. If the delegation wants to carry its own food, your handling agent confirms the customs position before the aircraft lands, since meat, dairy and fresh produce can be held at the general aviation terminal.
No. Is catering part of a charter? It is not: you order it separately and it is invoiced separately from the aircraft. The slot then decides the menu. A short turnaround suits sealed cold platters; a longer stop on the ramp allows a hot service finished in the galley.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
