Catering to your aircraft in Shaybah.
Shaibah Airport is a long way from any restaurant, so what leaves the kitchen is what you serve. We pack private jet catering for the desert: sealed, labelled and sorted by seat.
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.
Ash Sharqiyah Region is Saudi Arabia's eastern province, and the food of Shaybah and the Gulf coast is built on dates, cardamom coffee, lamb and rice. A private jet menu for Shaibah Airport leans on that: an inflight menu where kabsa-style rice, grilled lamb and Arabic mezze travel well, and private jet food that respects halal sourcing from the start. Local specialities such as dates, ma'amoul and gahwa suit the cabin because they need no cooking. Private jet platters of mezze, breads and fruit, gourmet inflight meals finished in the galley oven, and private jet snacks of dates and nuts cover most trips through OESB. Fresh produce is limited at a desert strip, so we plan the Ash Sharqiyah Region menu around what holds its quality in heat.
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.
Shaibah Airport sits at 300 ft in the Empty Quarter sands of Ash Sharqiyah Region, a strip where nothing arrives by road to meet your galley. Private jet catering at OESB is cooked and packed to survive that: inflight catering that travels sealed, aviation catering that leaves nothing to chance on the ground, and business aviation catering for crews who will not find a restaurant in Shaybah. For executive jet catering, diplomatic flight catering and cabin crew meals alike, the brief starts with what the aircraft can hold and heat.
A business jet into Shaibah Airport usually carries a small group on a tight schedule: executives or a project team heading to a remote site. Business jet catering and corporate jet catering here favour compact trays, VIP flight catering that is sealed against heat, and charter flight catering sized to the cabin. Luxury inflight catering is still possible: a private jet chef will write a bespoke menu around the galley you have.
Government and head of state flights are rare at a remote strip, but they follow strict protocol. Government flight catering for Shaibah Airport is cleared before anything is cooked, head of state flight catering uses a named team, and VIP aviation catering keeps labels discreet. State visit aircraft catering is packed sealed and handed over only at the aircraft.
Dietary requests at Shaibah Airport are handled as a procedure, because a desert strip leaves no room to fix a mistake on the ground. Halal is the default for sourcing in Ash Sharqiyah Region, so kosher, vegan, gluten free and allergen free orders are the ones that need a clear brief: a separate board, a separate box, a seat number on each tray. Special meals, including kids meals, are packed and labelled apart from the main service. Nuts and sesame turn up in many local dishes, from ma'amoul to tahini, so tell us about any allergen early.
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.
Crew catering for OESB is a separate line on the order: on request, invoiced, never assumed. Crew meals can be boxed or plated, flight crew meals are packed apart from guest trays, and pilot meals can be two different dishes. Cockpit meals are eaten between checks, crew meal boxes close with a lid, and different meals for pilots are offered whenever the operator wants them. It matters here: nothing else is open nearby.
At OESB, the FBO is the handover point: FBO catering arrives sealed and is passed to the crew. Catering delivery to the FBO is coordinated with the general aviation terminal, ground handling catering respects apron access, and handling agent catering confirms who opens the door. Slot and tail number are enough to start.
Shaibah Airport asks one question before anything is packed: what is the cabin? A light or midsize jet takes the galley catering by hand through the door; a larger cabin may need a high loader, and that is arranged with your handling agent before arrival. Airside catering delivery at Shaibah Airport runs through the FBO, and aircraft provisioning follows the galley you actually have: one oven, one drawer, or a full cabin kitchen. Tell us the type and we pack to its limits.
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.
Shaibah Airport serves Shaybah in Ash Sharqiyah Region, a remote location in Saudi Arabia's eastern desert. As an airport catering stop it is quiet: general aviation arrives on request, FBO services are limited to what the site needs, and ground handling services are arranged ahead. The terrain is flat sand at 300 ft.
As a business aviation hub Shaibah Airport is small and specific: executive jets bringing teams to the Shaybah site. Business aviation catering for that traffic is practical, inflight catering is packed to hold in heat, and in-flight catering for the return leg is ordered with the outbound. Executive jet catering, diplomatic flight catering and aviation catering all follow one rule: pack for the galley. Cabin crew meals ride separately.
Saudi Arabia limits food imports: pork and alcohol are prohibited, and meat should be halal. Customs can refuse fresh produce and dairy from abroad. Ordering locally for Shaibah Airport avoids delays and keeps the paperwork inside the country.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“Packing chicken skewers with a couscous salad for 8 passengers at Shaibah Airport needed careful thought, especially given a revised passenger count. Our request to The Galley Girls focused on the starters, with enough detail to distinguish passenger portions from additional provisions. The order made FBO catering feel manageable because the meal organisation had been considered beforehand. There was enough information about the desserts to brief the crew without making assumptions about what had been ordered.”
“Timing and organisation mattered at OESB, where our order of fresh fruit and breakfast pastries for 4 people involved a revised passenger count. This experience of airport catering gave us a useful reference for managing cabin service sequence on another departure. The Galley Girls kept the starters separate from the finishing elements, which gave us control over the final presentation. It made a difference to have the canapés ready without cluttering the galley work area during preparation.”
“Rather than an elaborate service at Shaibah Airport, our 2 guests wanted a light pasta dish with grilled vegetables, organised sensibly around different crew meal preferences. Our brief for inflight catering was met with a sensible plan for final order confirmation. The Galley Girls used a readable packing list for the main courses, which helped when two colleagues checked the order together. Keeping the breakfast portions identifiable helped the colleague taking over service understand the order without another long explanation.”
Ask what you actually need on board. A flight with no passengers into OESB may need only crew meals and water; add platters only if guests join later. Private jet catering costs scale with that choice.
Ordering the return while still on the ground is common at a remote strip. Lead time for OESB depends on the season and the dish; we handle last-minute orders, and customs rules for return food are the same.
Customs rules for Saudi Arabia matter most for meat, dairy and anything alcohol-based. For Shaibah, we source and pack inside the country so nothing foreign needs clearing.
Can you bring food? Yes, within Saudi customs limits, but pork and unlabelled meat are a risk at OESB. Crew meals handed over at the aircraft avoid the question during a long wait.
The charter price does not cover meals. When the count at Shaybah changes late, tell us the new seats and we adjust platters, hot dishes and special meals.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
