Catering to your aircraft in Tessalit.
Tessalit is a remote desert strip in the Gao Region, and the stop is rarely short on the ground. We pack private jet catering and crew meals for that wait, sealed and labelled, handed over to your FBO or handling agent at GATS.
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.
Tessalit is Saharan country, and the Gao Region table reflects it: meat grilled over coals, millet and rice, dates from the oases, tea brewed strong and sweet. A private jet menu for Tessalit Airport takes its cue from these local specialities and adapts them to a galley with limited equipment. Private jet food that works here is dry-stable or easy to reheat in an oven: spiced lamb, flatbread, millet, fruit. Inflight menu choices stay modest in number and clear in labelling, so the cabin crew serves them without guessing.
For Tessalit, private jet platters mean dates, dried fruit, cold meats and flatbread, laid out in sealed boxes that cope with desert dust. Gourmet inflight meals are built around lamb, millet and rice, each component packed apart so the galley can re-plate without cooking. Private jet snacks stay dry and stable: nuts, dates, biscuits, sealed tea. The Gao Region's local specialities are honest, unfussy food, and our inflight menu keeps them that way, with each dish marked for oven, sauce apart or chilled service.
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.
Tessalit sits at 1,621 ft in the Adrar des Ifoghas, where a business jet may wait on the apron far longer than the schedule suggests, and that waiting shapes the menu. Private jet catering for Tessalit Airport (GATS) is packed for dry heat and a galley that has to hold everything until the crew is ready to serve. Inflight catering here leans on dishes that sit well, in-flight catering on sealed trays marked by seat, and aviation catering on plain, reliable handover to your handling agent. Business aviation catering and executive jet catering follow the same logic: nothing that needs the kitchen once it is on board. Diplomatic flight catering is cleared by protocol before anything is cooked, and cabin crew meals are written for people who may not sit down until the ground time is over.
Corporate and charter crews flying into Tessalit know the stop can stretch. Business jet catering here is built to wait: sealed, chilled, marked by seat. Corporate jet catering and VIP flight catering share one rule, nothing that needs a kitchen once on board. Charter flight catering and luxury inflight catering are finished by the crew, and the private jet chef will write a bespoke menu once we know the aircraft and the headcount.
When a state delegation flies into Tessalit, the catering is agreed with the protocol office, not decided at the aircraft. Government flight catering and head of state flight catering are traced from kitchen to galley. VIP aviation catering and state visit aircraft catering are handed over discreetly by the same small team.
Special meals at Tessalit follow a procedure, not a promise. In Saharan cooking the hidden allergens are usually nuts in sweet dishes, milk in porridge and spice blends of unclear origin, so each dish is checked component by component. Kosher, halal, vegan, gluten free, allergen free and kids meals are confirmed with you before anything is packed, and each tray is sealed and marked by seat, away from the other trays.
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.
Duty time at Tessalit can mean hours on the apron, so crew meals are ordered with the flight, on request and invoiced with the order. Flight crew meals are boxed separately from guest trays, pilot meals come in two distinct dishes, and crew catering is planned for people who eat when the cabin is quiet. Cockpit meals are easy to hold, crew meal boxes are sealed, and different meals for pilots avoid the same food reaching the flight deck twice.
At GATS, the FBO and your handling agent decide how the catering reaches the aircraft. FBO catering delivery is planned around your slot and the apron access. Catering delivery to the FBO, ground handling catering and handling agent catering all end in the same place: the aircraft door, with the general aviation terminal as the contact point.
Galley catering at Tessalit depends on the aircraft type: door height, whether a high loader is needed, and what the galley can hold. Airside catering delivery is arranged with the FBO or your handling agent, who tell us how the aircraft will be reached on the apron. For larger aircraft, aircraft provisioning is planned around the loader and the hold of the galley, so the trolleys and boxes arrive in the order the crew will unpack them.
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.
Tessalit Airport (GATS) is a remote airfield in the Gao Region of northern Mali, at 1,621 ft in the Adrar des Ifoghas. Airport catering here is simple by necessity: little local supply, a small ramp, and a crew who need to know exactly what arrives and where. General aviation traffic is occasional, which makes the order the most important part of the trip.
Tessalit is not a busy business aviation hub, and that matters for planning. FBO services and ground handling services are limited, so inflight catering, in-flight catering and aviation catering are packed to survive heat and dust. Business aviation catering and executive jet catering stay simple, diplomatic flight catering is cleared by protocol, and cabin crew meals are ordered with the flight.
Mali applies its own rules to imported food, particularly animal products and fresh produce. At Tessalit, customs are handled through the airport authorities and your handling agent. Check current requirements with your handling agent before departure, and let us supply the fresh items locally so the crew has less to declare.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“For 7 passengers departing from GATS, the agreed menu was mushroom risotto and a green salad; our main consideration was several individual meal preferences. The Galley Girls gave us an update on the sauces before the handover, which helped us organise the cabin checks. Our brief for crew meals was met with a sensible plan for cabin service sequence. Knowing where the crew provisions were packed meant the crew could begin the relevant checks as soon as the order arrived.”
“I wanted a cheese board and savoury canapés for 10 guests at Tessalit Airport, packed sensibly for a cabin team dealing with several individual meal preferences. Our brief for FBO catering was met with a sensible plan for storage requirements. I asked The Galley Girls for the sandwiches in stackable containers, with garnishes supplied separately for plating on board. It made a difference to have the starters ready without cluttering the galley work area during preparation.”
“The 11 passenger portions of roasted chicken and seasonal vegetables were the easy part; managing limited fridge space at Tessalit Airport took more planning. I would discuss airport catering with them again, especially when storage requirements needs careful coordination. I asked The Galley Girls to review the crew provisions quantities against the passenger brief, and the proposed portions made sense. There was enough information about the canapés to brief the crew without making assumptions about what had been ordered.”
Cost follows what you pick: a date and flatbread platter is modest, grilled lamb for six is not. If duty time means the crew waits at Tessalit, add crew meals to the order and they are invoiced like everything else.
A dawn or midnight slot changes nothing about the order itself. Last-minute requests for Tessalit are handled, and you can call or email 24/7.
Customs depend on what is on board and where you flew from. Ask your handling agent before landing, then let us supply the fresh items so the crew has nothing to declare.
Technically yes, subject to customs. In practice, crews flying into Tessalit at odd hours prefer local catering, because nobody wants to explain a cooler of fresh food at midnight.
No, catering sits apart from the aircraft contract. If the crew will wait on the ground at GATS, include their meals in the order. They are invoiced like the rest.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
