Catering to your aircraft in Mattala.
Mattala has one of the longest runways in South Asia and very few movements on it, so a business jet usually has the apron to itself. We pack the galley for that aircraft, with Southern Province seafood, curries and tropical fruit, and hand it over through your handling agent.
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.
Southern Province cooking is built on the sea and on coconut, which suits a private jet menu because most of it holds well. Ambalangoda and Tangalle bring in tuna, seer fish and prawns, and a proper inflight menu here leans on them: ambul thiyal, the dry sour fish curry, travels better than any sauced dish because it is cooked without liquid and reheats without splitting.
Rice and curry is the backbone of local specialities, and for a cabin we split it into its parts: red or white rice in one tray, dhal, pol sambol and a vegetable curry in separate pots, so the flight attendant can plate it on board. Hoppers and string hoppers are a breakfast item, and we pack the egg and the lunu miris apart so nothing goes soft. Fruit is the easy win in Southern Province: mango, papaya, wood apple, king coconut, and the sweet, small bananas that only taste right when they are ripe.
Mattala sits in the dry zone, and private jet food from here is planned with heat in mind. Anything dairy-heavy stays chilled, and desserts lean on curd and treacle, the buffalo curd with kithul syrup, which holds well for a long taxi. For an airport catering order on this field we write the menu around Southern Province produce and keep Mattala a place you can taste, not only a code on a flight plan.
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.
A 3,500 metre runway sits in the dry south-east of Sri Lanka, and a private jet catering order for Mattala is usually written around a long positioning leg, a tropical arrival and a guest list headed for Yala, Tangalle or the southern coast. Our inflight catering is packed for the galley on your tail, and the same kitchen does in-flight catering for crew. Aviation catering at HRI runs through your handling agent at the general aviation terminal, and business aviation catering here suits an aircraft with a stocked galley, so executive jet catering is built around what you already carry. Diplomatic flight catering follows the protocol brief for the delegation, and cabin crew meals are ordered with the trip.
Business jet catering at Mattala is written around the aircraft and the guests, and corporate jet catering here usually means a short list built for a quiet apron. VIP flight catering and charter flight catering follow the same brief: a bespoke menu, a private jet chef who cooks for the galley you have, and luxury inflight catering that finishes with fruit and tea from Southern Province.
Government flight catering at Mattala runs through a protocol brief. Head of state flight catering and state visit aircraft catering are written with the delegation office, the dietary list and the seat plan, and VIP aviation catering keeps names off the paperwork and handled by a small, named team.
Rice and curry hides more than it shows: wheat in roti and kottu, fish paste in some sambols, coconut milk in most gravies. At Mattala we plan special meals around those traps. Kosher, halal, vegan and gluten free orders are each cooked and sealed on their own, and allergen free trays carry the seat number only. Kids meals follow the same method, with the heat taken out.
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.
Pilots on a long positioning into HRI rarely get a proper meal on the ground, so crew meals here are ordered with the trip. Flight crew meals are cooked fresh and boxed to be eaten one-handed; pilot meals and cockpit meals are labelled CREW, and different meals for pilots are packed on request so captain and first officer never share a dish. Crew catering is a catalogue item, ordered on request and invoiced like the rest, and crew meal boxes can be rice and curry in separate pots or a cold plate for a tight turn.
We start with the handling agent, because handling agent catering depends on who holds the airside pass. FBO catering is delivered to the general aviation terminal, ground handling catering is signed for plane-side, and catering delivery to the aircraft is arranged around your slot.
Mattala handles widebodies on a ramp built for far more than it sees, and galley catering for a large VIP aircraft goes up by high loader. We coordinate airside catering delivery with your handling agent, check the door height of your type, and plan aircraft provisioning with the trolleys and carts the aircraft actually carries.
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.
Mattala Rajapaksa International opened in 2013 in Southern Province and carries one of the longest runways in the region with very little scheduled traffic. For airport catering that means a quiet apron, a small general aviation operation and a handover that is rarely crowded. FBO services and ground handling services here are modest in scale, and Mattala works as a business aviation hub in name more than in volume, so the team knows your aircraft by its tail.
Mattala suits a private jet catering order for guests visiting Yala, Tangalle or the southern coast, and inflight catering, in-flight catering and aviation catering are packed for the leg out. Business aviation catering and executive jet catering follow the aircraft, diplomatic flight catering follows the protocol brief, and cabin crew meals and crew meals are added on request. With FBO services kept simple and ground handling services run by a small team, this business aviation hub rewards an order that names the tail, the guests and the galley early.
Sri Lanka controls the import of fresh meat, dairy, plants and some packaged food, and customs can inspect anything the aircraft carries in. Your FBO services provider or ground handling services agent clears local catering for the next leg, so the practical answer is to order here and let the business aviation hub's handling agent sign for it.
Average rating from the cabin crew and pilots we cater for.
“Food presentation mattered to our 9 guests, but a short ground stop also had to be considered when organising grilled salmon with a lemon dressing at Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport. Instead of asking us to improvise, The Galley Girls explained how the snack boxes could be arranged during service. When comparing private jet catering companies, I would look closely at storage requirements after this experience. The canapés stayed together in one group, so another crew member could follow the same plating sequence.”
“Several practical details needed attention at VCRI, with a selection of petits fours and sandwiches requested for 8 guests and several individual meal preferences to accommodate. My search for "private jet catering near me" led to a practical conversation about crew briefing. We described our serving sequence to The Galley Girls and asked for the sauces to be packed accordingly. The desserts were reserved for the next stage, so the worktop stayed clear while we prepared the initial dishes.”
“Service planning came first at HRI, with 10 passengers choosing a seafood starter and warm vegetable sides and an evening cabin service influencing our preparation. For our team, the strongest part of their private jet catering menu was how they handled storage requirements. The Galley Girls updated the crew provisions in the written order and sent back a confirmation that clearly showed our amendments. There was no need to reconstruct the sauces quantities from several messages during the final departure checks.”
The tail number is the starting point. Once we know the type, we know how much the galley holds, how many courses are realistic and whether anything has to be finished on board, and the price follows. Crab and prawn cost more than rice and vegetable curry.
Diet requests change how a tray is prepared, not only what is on it. A coeliac guest, a nut allergy or a halal request each need their own board and box, so we ask for the detail first. Last-minute orders are handled where the kitchen can do it safely.
Start with the handling agent. They know the airside rules at HRI, the vehicle pass and who needs to see the order, and we work with that. Tell us who is handling your flight and we send them the list.
Customs on arrival will look at anything fresh, and Sri Lanka is strict on plant and animal products. That is a good reason to plan the next sector here: we cook locally, so the galley is stocked without importing a thing.
Not as a rule. A charter price is for the aircraft, and food is its own order. When a delegation or head of state flight lands at Mattala, we take the menu from whoever manages the visit and invoice it separately.
Tail, pax and diets — a flight attendant takes it from there, day or night.
